I purchased my first ebay purchase in a long time (years) the other day. I bought comic books. I was so excited. I found what I wanted. Ordered it, paid for it and the seller shipped it and sent me tracking info. Perfect. But when I got it, I was shocked how destroyed the package was. The seller did a good job trying to over pack it with cardboard to protect the comics, but I don't think you can plan on countering USPS destroying the edges of the package.
I thought about it all night and woke up wanting to share with you my thoughts.
1. It is not a search engine. I waste many hours on Google looking for answers. The world doesn't need another search engine. It needs a Knowledge Engine.
2. That it has enough intelligence that when I wrote the name of 3 companies down, it did it's best to compare them on certain baseline stats and then make some deep thinking analysis of the companies in comparison to the S&P500 and some kind of analysis on a portfolio made up of these stocks.
I was blown away at the results. This is not a website dedicated to stocks analysis so I did not expect the depth of the information I received.
So are there any problems?
The real problem was the micro hype that built up around the launch. Most of the stories used the word Google in the same story when talking about Wolfram Alpha.
I agree that normal people like me would not use WolframAlpha everyday because we just do not have needs. But as a student or a technical person or god forbid a blogger/reporter that needs to check facts I see that it would handy.
I do have to say I have a hard time saying WolframAlpha. It tends to roll off my tongue with an Alfra! Not sure why.
Some people think Alpha is the stage of development it is in. Might be bad from a marketing standpoint. Maybe, Maybe not.
I would like to see it evolve, so here is my top 10 list.
1. I would like to see links to where some of the facts came from so I can validate it or learn more.
2. I would like to know what the horizontal bars are that constantly fill. It made me think that it was still looking or still searching. I'm not sure it did.
3. I would like to see Sources referenced but not like wikipedia. I'm not a librarian and I don't care to see something in some academic documentation standard that dates back a thousand years.
4. I'd like to know if it's humble. Let it ask me if the results are right. Let me help define a new set of results. Not ones that it accepts as facts but ones that are contra or extensions of the facts.
5. I would like to see it embedded in Google. I know Google is going to do their own thing, they are arrogant that way, but why not license it and allow a search result to not just include links to pages, but when applicable a WA answer tab.
6. I would love to see Data Trending. If I ask a question such as "How many people visit cnet on Mondays" that it could answer it and let me change the date range to visually see it change. Then I'd like to do a question that connects such as "How many people bought coffee on Monday in San Francisco and read CNET while drinking the coffee" - See you need Google for many of the data points and WA for the engine to do the thinking.
7. I'd love a WolframAlpha Appliance that I can install in my office. That walks through my data and allows my team to ask it questions against it.
8. These are not normal daily queries for most, they are questions that many do daily to make decisions. Provide guidance in asking the question. A Google bar is not good enough. Give me a wizard.
9. I'd love to see it respond with a better guidance page when people ask it dumb questions. Something that says "Gee you seem to be asking for a search engine term, that's not what we are, may we suggest any of these search engines. We are something different. We are..."
10. I'd like it to become a classroom tool. Focus on the teachers. Provide video based training on how to use the engine in any class, any grade.
I believe that this is another huge leaping point. The engine will mature and we will all take it for granted just like we do with Google.
Lots and lots of chatter going on about iPhone upgrades and cool new features.
But before we get too excited I'm hoping that Apple will take care of some fundamentals.
1. Select and copy and paste
Select is often left out of the chant for Copy and Paste. But I need to be able to tap tap text to start my selection and tap to end it with a pop up to confirm what to do next if something is on the 'clipboard' or not. I may just want to delete pages of email before I forward it. - Apple here is a hint, do not use memory for the clipboard, write it out to a text file for now. Yes you screamers want objects, but lets baby step here.
2. delete all sms messages
I have over 700 SMS messages. I have to find the time to tap tap several times for each message to delete it. No Way. I want a delete all. Poof. Gone. Start over.
3. Printing
I'm standing here, looking at a webpage or a photo or a map. How the heck do I print it? I'd like to save any screen in to a print queue for easy retreival that doesn't require me to reload the page from the web. I'd like to send anything to a printer in my office. Especially if I have a Airport Shared Wireless printer.
4. Unlimited Apps with a New Desktop UI.
The other day I wasted an hour trying to figure out why an App that was sent to me would not load. It would not sync. It gave no error. I then realized that I had maxed out on the panes with apps. I had actually more apps downloaded but would not sync and with no error message. I want unlimited apps. But...
We must change the multipane desktop as the primary way to navigate apps.
Let me create app categories. Favorites. Work. Play. Kids. Cool. Look later. Web pages. Financial. News. What ever. Let me control these from the iPhone but let me set them up and manage it from the iTunes. I can work alot faster on teh computer, Dragging and dropping, hiding and showing which apps go where.
5. iChat
Say no more. Apples amazing chat client is missing. I have many different solutions to use depending on who I wan to chat with.
6. Sending and Receiving MMS
People (mostly my kids) send me videos they create with their $20 phones and I can't look at them on my $299 iPhone.
7. Video record mode
I want to record videos. Watch them and Share them.
8. Turn by Turn GPS
As a developer we are not allowed to do this. OK, then Apple, you have to do it. Just do it.
9. SMS archiving.
I have lots and lots of SMS. I want to use my cool Delete All function. But I'd like to archive the messages to email. Archive it all into one email, once a week or month and purge.
10. Sideways Texting.
This one is for my daughter. She doesn't want an iPhone. She is more comfortable texting in the horizontal two hands, two thumbs model.
One Last Thing!
I'd like to buy hardware that can plug into the base of it and extend it's use. I don't just want to plug it into a car. I want to plug it into a little plug like Nike did years ago with the iPod that adds some powerful connection.
ok, One last thing. Let me control all 547 radios in this thing, from one place. How many taps does it take to turn on and off diffrerent radios? Ridiculous.
Watch this short clip of a Bay Area news piece on a new thing called reading the newspaper on your computer.
It's amazing how far we have come in such a short period of time.
Highlights of the video.
1. Tandy is the personal computer most seen on screen. 2. A few thousand people in the bay area own a personal computer. 3. $5 an hour connection fee. 4. 2 hours to download all the text. 5. An old guy is the computer user they show with the caption "owns personal computer"
What if urbanization was actually the healthiest thing we could do. I love it when something we took as evidence for human action to save the planet 10 years ago, is now questioned and yet people don't believe it. Why is it that we are easy to believe that humans are destroying the planet but not that humans are naturally going to do what humans do and let the land go fallow.
All that being said. My hippy urban friends have no trees, I have over 1,000 if not 10,000. If you believed that all farmers are bad to the planet and all farms are bad, especially when you use the eco footprint web sites that are crap - I have 12 acres with 1 little house in the middle of it, yet it says i'm worse for the planet then the guy that lives in downtown Portland.
One teacher told me that cows were the leading cause of global warming. I told him that we should all eat the all the cows and end this madness. Vegetarians are to blame for global warming. I knew it.
While everyone is busy smiling and hanging on our new president's every word and shirtless pose, I checked out the new WhiteHouse.gov website. I was saddened and disappointed, I expected real change.
Note: I'm proud of our country. I'm excited to honor my President. I'm HOPEful that the whining will stop.
Those of you that posted facebook graffitti wishing the helicopter blew up as the Obama's waved goodbye, move along. You say these things because you think your funny and that your in like minded company. You are not. Thank god your numbers are few.
I am saddened to think our higher education system failed you.
That photo represents whats cool about about country. We transfer power at the will of the people and we do so peacefully.
But what about the website.
1. Interesting blog post by Information Week - Website doesn't live up to promises. Note: I read this article today around 2pm and by 7pm they updated the website. Too late - Fire the web team - They should of used SiB for the website. The moment President Obama makes an official descision they could post it and should immediately.
2. Isn't Whitehouse.gov about our current leadership, the descisions, the leaders themselves and its a conduit for truth to the taxpayers? Isn't it an educational tool for Students and aspiring Americans? Well sadly, its converted into a campaign site. It has references to George Bush's broken promises about Katrina. I swear the web team just copied and pasted text from Obama's election site. I'm suprised it doesn't have a donate now button on there.
3. They changed the picture, but not before it was too late. The internet is not forgiving. As President Obama took office, the whitehouse.gov site was a large head shot of our new President. Within hours it was removed and changed back to showing other people as well. I hope they pay attention. The website is (will become) the #1 source of information about our country and its leadership. We were told it would be transparent and we need to hold him accountable.
4. I want the blog to be the Presidents. It's not. It's just a blurb post. It should be by someone. Forget the Press Core, they don't matter anymore. We the People...
5. I love the weekly video address that will be posted on Youtube. I love it, love it, love it.
Interesting factoid. President Obama changed the rules that state that any federal website cannot require cookies to work protecting the privacy of the viewer. Youtube requires cookies. And so it goes...
6. HBO buys exclusive right to broadcast Inauguration celebration? WHOA! Is that right? To be fair, he was not president yet, so selling out to the highest bidder was completely legal. And he was just following suit. HBO bought exclusive rights to Bill Clintons Inauguration as well.
CES 2009 Saturday & Sunday Report January 10 and 11, 2009
I left Macworld and attended CES.
CES is HUGE! Huge is too small of a word to describe it. It's Freaken HUGE! It's overwhelmingly huge. I think there are over 2,700 booths. I'm not kidding. Booths. It spans every corner of the Las Vegas Convention Center and the Hilton Convention Center and the Parking Lot and the Sands. It's MASSIVE.
I had 2 days, fresh sneakers and lots of red bull. You will have to forgive this blog posting. It's going to be a long blurring run on sentence. (paul says - whats new?).
Most of these notes are for my own sanity. I record them as the day winds down so that I do not forget. There are photos and I'll work on getting them connected to the paragraphs.
LG SkyCharger - Part of LG's Eco Mobilization effort to Motivate, Educate and Activate. I call it event based marketing - The Wind - Turbines generate 1000 watt max output. The Sun - Solar panels feature an 880 watt array. The Tent is an pyramid open tent design. The center is a set of cell phone lockers where you plug in your phone and take the key. You return when your ready to pick it up. There are 12 110 A/h deep cycle lead acid batteries to provide each phone 4-6v of power. A very cool concept. I don't like when marketing departments take on GREEN and try to figure out how to leverage it into everything without it being a real critical component of the organization. But this is different somehow. It seems that they created a real brand-able need fulfilling device that can go to beach events and so forth. I want to borrow from this for the Jackson County Fair.
Microsoft
Surrounded by Security Guards. It's a very large space but laid out in a way that does a god job making you feel like there is a lot there, not a lot of empty space. Keep in mind 1/4 of the space is meeting rooms. Microsoft is one of those companies that is involved in many things and the layout was presented like a journey. It started with Windows showing off Vista and Windows 7, Windows Live and IE 8. I checked out Windows 7 and Live and it's very interesting to see how they bridge the desktop to the internet.
Cell phones were featured in the Mobility section. Lots of Samsung and HTC smartphone from what I could see. I didn't spend much time there. I have an iPhone.
The third stop on the journey was Television. I'll be going back here on Sunday. They featured Windows Media Center allowing you to Watch and Record TV on your PC and how to extend movies, music, photos to your big screen TV. They also showed off Microsoft Mediaroom with DVRanywhere Live anytime features.
Next was Gaming. I was impressed with how 90 % of gaming was taking the XBOX 360 squarely against the WII. It's not about horsepower, its about fun playability for the whole family. From Dueling Karaoke battles called LIPs and some cool game I need to spend more time with that allows you to build your own game. One Microsoft employee told me it was for kids. I smiled at her and thanked her for her words of wisdom. That aint for kids. It's a modeling tool for game creation. It's brilliant and the young woman from Schlage couldn't put it down.
Note: I played Halo Wars and loved how they took the FPS game and turned it into a RTS with deep backstory. The Halo franchise will grow to a new level with this game.
Music rounded out the final part of a disconnected journey. I will look at Zune later time permitting. I have no interest and do not see any application for clients. Did I mention I have an iPhone.
My journey was disrupted by a information booth of unhelpful Microsoft employees and security guards. I left the booth only to discover later on that the journey that curved serpentine like a conical shell continued past the information booth. A small car (make and model goes here) was presented as a game (bad call here - no line - no one understood it as a game - it definitely did not grab the crowd ) but I was intrigued with the car, as I am with most small electric or high fuel efficient cars in booths. Forget the booth babes, these things draw me. The car was in a section called Automotive. There is also a big tent with no one visiting outside promoting this concept of Microsoft in your car. Apple did it with ipod connectors in your car. Microsoft wants you to have your computer live with you in the car. We shall see.
Surprisingly the end of the journey was productivity. It was kind of stuck in there and forgotten about and I think it should of been after the first kiosk since it ties so nicely with Windows and Windows Live. They had to reboot the video looping demo while I was looking around. The video got stuck. It took 4 guys to do it. some TECH guy does the deed while security looks it over and watches the crowd. Nothing to see here - move along.
Inside the end of the journey was the touch screen table top venture Microsoft is getting into. I played with it. It's fairly responsive and for a few minutes I flung all the images around the screen while it was trying to tell me about products and offerings. I was happy to see that I didn't feel smudges. Think of the thousands of people who touched it before it. There was one kid there with Apple on his badge and he videotaped the thing in action, which makes no sense to me since you can see it all in action on the web. I guess the security guys were so busy watching over reboots they missed this one all together.
Remember last year when I told you the Apple booth flavor was different because of guards, well its the same here. I don't like standing there with security looking over my shoulder and if you don't think they are watching you one said my name just to make sure I knew, I was being watched. Damn name badges.
I always enjoy the companies and goods I find on accident.
One such company was Tritton (trittonUSA.com). They make headphones for gaming that when I put them on and played a game (I have no id which ones) the bass was so deep and the 5.1 surround sound (yes in the headphones) was so well done that I was actually startled at one point in the game when I ran around the corner and something moved BEHIND me. Trust me it changes everything when your hearing is part of the game play.
A small developer in San Diego (Paleo) released Merchants of Brooklyn which is a FPS using Cryteks CryEngine 2 and based on a few minutes of gameplay will do very well. It's loaded with over the top humor and action and was purposely developed with a comic book look and feel. I enjoyed the game and when i interviewed one of the employees while he was playing I found out that it will be on sale for only 20 bucks. If you love FPS games, check this one out. It's also nice to see an independent title.
One thing to check out is the APEX SC320 from simcraft. This hardware rig allows you to have a driving simulator in your living room. It's a true three dimensional experience with no latency. You have to use the software that they preinstall but the games look great and real and the motion physics in the game are definitely felt during play. Very cool.
Interactive TV
I spent a lot of time looking over solutions for interactive TV from the manufactures including interactive consoles in the TV to software from providers for the digital set top box.
Playjam.com boasts 45 billion homes using its software as a gaming network with over 500 games.
Electra entertainment provides Trove and iTrove as a way for me as a cable tv provider to provide entertainment interactively on the TV. I'll be checking that out.
Entropia was a online MMO gaming world that uses real money as currency in the game. Check it out at EntropiaUniverse.com.
Poloroid is back.
Can you believe it? The company that invented instant photography has a fun little POGO camera that teen girls are sure to enjoy. It lets you take a digital photo and instantly (under a minute) print a small photo to stick on something or give to someone. It doesn't use ink it uses ZINK. The ink is in the paper. Wild huh? Check it out.
Consumer electronics range from Walmart level electronics to the hip, cool, stylish, elite, expensive, artsy, chic kind.
Home based electronics and Greening technologies.
3D TV - Lots and lots of 3D tv going on. The LCD technology where the screen can now refresh at 120 hz or higher allow you to play any (ANY) movie from Pixar or CG created (because it is created in a 3D world) with special glasses and have an amazing immersive experience. More so than Caption EO. Haven't you noticed how many films are out in 3D? This is because it's becoming mainstream and quite good. I did 3D years ago with Sega glasses and medical images. This is the same concept but because of the high refresh rates you can do it at HD resolution.
I played a little of a new game called MirrorsEdge. Its unlike any FPS I have ever played. You can see your shoes and your run and jump to complete levels. It uses the PhysX engine by nvidia and is a full enriching gaming experience. I cant wait to see what else they come out with.
I was surprised!
Creative Labs. Remember them? the sound card people since the PC didn't come with one? Well they are back and about to take over. Move over Bose, the sound canceling headset I tried on was amazing. The deep rich sound from the GigaWorks Sound system was outstanding and new Vado HD poket video camera is a must have. 2 hours of solid state recording in HD. How is this possible. creative bought another lab Zii lab. Wait till you see what they are doing. Parallel processing that is 100 times faster, 100 times cheaper and 100 times more energy efficient cpus. WOW! I was impressed.
The chip has processing elements in the core that can be reprogrammed to task or shut off completely. Need HD then use all PEs, just doing something simple, how about one PE or two?
WOW! Keep an eye on this company again, I think great things are about to happen.
I found electronics for plants to let you know when it needs water, with a LED blink, but no IP.
Universal Laser Systems etched photos onto dogtags. ULSINC.com The laser is very cool and very precise. You can laser etch on laptops or anything you want to put a logo or words on. Very cool.
More IP TV
I met with Stacey Cook, CEO of Qtv with turns a PS2 (yes 2) into a set top box. www.Q-TV.com - The PS2 has dolby 5.1 sound so it takes your USB connected mp3 player and sends it to your speakers as well through your stereo.
ElectraTV.com has a channel for playing games PlayJam is the content. They are from England. They wouldn't talk to me.
I stumbled up a low cost, low power all in one PC called LimePC that is straight out of China. I ordered an eval unit of the NetPC in a box. Looks like I might be going to Beijing if this works out to work out a deal. Low Energy, Low Cost PCs.
NVidea also announced a NetPC box that got best in show runner up. But I could not find anyone that knew anything about it. They all stood there playing games.
A must check out is ClickFree Automatic Backup. You plug in the drive into the USB and the backsup software autoloads and automatically does an incremental backup. The first one takes the longest.
http://www.GoClickFree.com
There sure was a huge gathering of people at the Entropia Universe booth on Sunday. 3D online social network with a real cash economy. Hmmm....
ZvBox is a box that you plug into your computer and it uses the house's built in coax to boardcast a channel inside your home.
It might work great for a hotel as well but they didn't seem interested.
Lots of San Diego based companies were in the show - Qualcomm, Paleo and Entropic, watching the Chargers lose. I was happy, they were not.
Entropic makes the chips that goes inside the set top box. I'm noodling something here. Time to dust off the soldering iron.
The show was coming to an end.
Here is my final thought on CES. It's too big to be a community. I saw no crowd. I don't understand it. Everything under one roof (ok several roofs) from automotive electronics (I took lots of car photos for our new ENVI product) to Manufactures of the smallest component from all over the planet.
Do we consumers really need all those different choices in TV? What about everyone that invested in large TV's in the last 5 years. TV's are typically a 10-15 year purchase cycle for a family. Do we see that changing? Will we be adding TVs in everyroom?
Consumers demand high end, sophisticated electronics. You should see the depth and breath of the automotive section alone. It fills an entire convention center. Sony, Microsoft, Intel do more globally but take up less space. With less of a connection to the consumer or the chain that delivers for them.
Note: Intel did not have one single Intel Mac in their booth. Not even under a table. I asked them, where are the Macs?, they looked nervously across the 10 foot divide of carpet separating them from Microsoft's space and gulped.
It's time for CES to change and for the consumer to evolve.
I dedicated myself to getting the most out of the conference. I didn't rest to eat, drink or visit the booth babes (I did how ever take pictures as I ran by - hey it's me...) I found solutions for each of my businesses and organizations I work with. I made new contacts with companies in China, Korea, Australia and the US. I bought components, systems, Toys and Software.
Companies spent at least 100 million dollars in total there that week to market themselves and the one thing that sticks out in my mind right now is Erector makes IP based robots and I'm going to order 3 of them. (Erector did not have a booth - At least one that I saw)
Last night I gave a 2 hour talk (with lots of Q&A) at Ashland Middle School on Technology and your Teenager. The talk centered around future-proofing your child, not inhibiting them from competing in this ever-changing world. The key is moderation and limits. We need to find ways to use technology to sift through the information tsunami that is coming.
The forums are put on by Carol Davis (a parent at AMS) and she told me that my presentation was the largest audience she has had in 2+ years of hosting these parent talks. I guess the topic is timely and important. Many parents in attendance gave great ideas on how they set limits or how they integrate technology in the life of their child. I learned a lot.
The presentation is embedded here. Click to go from slide to slide.
Also there are two video's worth watching that help frame why technology is important to embrace, as well as higher education.
It's funny.
The elections are over.
America has spoken.
The President, Senate and House are now ruled by the same party.
And all the people in that party are happy and are now calling for 'Unity'.
Yet, just a week ago these same people despised anyone that didn't agree with them.
So... Welcome to America. We can have Unity as long as we are in charge, seems to be the message.
These are the same people that call this election a revolution.
This is not a revolution.
This is democracy.
A winner and a loser.
Same as it always is.
At least now the whining can stop.
Thank God the whining will stop.
The constant poking fun at the other side.
The constant lashing of bile and hatred will end.
America has spoken.
And the Democrats are happy.
Now we can roll up our sleeves and get to work and test the mettle of the man that charmed a nation.
below is a blog posting i made to a site about technology in the classroom, titled "The Pros and Cons of Technology Enhanced Learning".
What the heck is assistive technology? Isn't technology a tool, just like a pencil and a book. Isn't all technology assistive?
Distance Learning is not new. My dad did it when he got out of the Navy after the Vietnam War. It was a mail in class in electronics.
We should not teach technology classes. That would be like teaching a class on Pencil and Pen usage or How to open the book and read the book.
New teachers today should embrace technology as the latest set of tools to teach with. I hire many people, I don't hire them for technology skills I hire them for the ability to think, learn, process, challenge, push and lead all while using everything from the cell phone to the computer and the internet.
The poll you have also concerns me. The internet is just a resource. Cheating is a behavior. We don't spend enough time teaching about cheating and ethics.
Soon I will have a watch with more power than my cell phone which has more power than my computer.
Teaching today is about having the technology as a tool to the teacher, to enable and facilitate multiple modalities of learning. Something that just a few years ago would of been very difficult and slow to perform.
Today, a classroom can empower students to learn at their own pace, in the way that works most effective for them at the time.
Today's classroom has one limiter on the introduction of technology and putting limits on children while learning, the Teacher.
I hope you consider 2 things while looking at technology in the classroom.
1. myspace. hate it or love it, it is the future. Now, I'm not saying that myspace is the future, I'm saying that our children share more widely and rapidly then we could of even imagined. Having a great day, the whole class knows immediately, stuck on a problem, thinking about a boy, wishing you were somewhere else? mySpace allows real thoughts to be shared.
How do we harness that?
2. Cell phones, really I mean the iPhone. Take a small form factor device, add 5 radios and great software and you have everything you need to never leave a child behind. Instant access to everything at anytime from any location is the future. I'd like to see new teachers embrace the fact and replace text books as soon as a book size one becomes available.
Again, How do we harness that?
One final thought. Like you, I spend a lot of time with kids during the fair. Real kids from our valley. Not nerdy kids and I notice 2 things.
1. They embrace technology more than we give them credit for.
2. They multitask (thanks to IM) and do so very well. We adults judge good behavior on the student staying on task. I think that we will need to redefine success. Staying on task is not real in the modern world. Having tools to empower multi-tasking is where we need to go.
In the end, this is a good start on a blog. I'd like to see you grow it and engage in some meaningful dialog on the future of education and how technology will play a role in it, not if or should it, but how do you and your fellow teachers to be, embrace it and empower children to learn with the book of the future.
Tonight Obama will be watched by millions on TV, it's a political tactic called "Throat Ramming". I remember when Ross Perot did this. Worked well for him, didn't it.
Obama bought 30 minutes of airtime from different networks, a very expensive purchase, but he wants to make sure Americans will see it, not because they want to, but because they have to, why else would you blast all the networks?.
Maybe to distribute the wealth? Maybe to give the networks lots of cash in return for playing nice during his campaign. And If you did not play nice, then guess what, no 30 minutes of Obama for you.
But hey, he can afford it. Barack Obama is cash rich, he has raised well over $600 million since the start of his campaign, close to what George Bush and John Kerry raised combined in 2004.
One can argue about this several ways, regardless of the who. The amount of money wasted on advertising is ridiculous. It seems to me that over 80% of the voters have made up their mind already. Is it worth millions upon millions to reach the few undecided.
I am one of those undecided. I choose not to decide until election day.
My reason is simple, I like to see how each candidate acts up until the day.
It is worth reminding ourselves what Barack Obama said last November.
One year ago, he made a promise. He pledged to accept public financing and to work with the Republican nominee to ensure that they both operated within those limits.
I'm concerned how many promises are made and broken in order to win an election.
My friends will accept anything and anyone as long as it's not a Republican. It's why I roll the way I roll and I'll keep watching and learning and save my vote for election day.
Forgive me for it has been several months since my last blog post.
But I'm back.
I've thought about coming back to writing for a week. Last week Dena wanted to go out to a bar and have a drink and meet someone fun. So off we went. We landed at the Black Sheep and sat at the bar. Sitting next to Dena was Wil Wheaton and his wife, but more on that later.
I have not been able to find the words or desire to write since David died, so I stopped writing.
It also seems that every day I run into someone who asks, "How is Paul?" and I tell them all the same thing. He is back at work full time and doing a great job. He and his wife, Suzanne are dealing with something none of us should have to deal with, but they do so with great strength and faith.
My dearest friend still struggles with pain and sorrow of losing his son and some days are of course harder than others, but he moves forward.
And so should I. It's time to start writing again.
But where do I begin, so much has happened during the last two and a half months... let me sum up.
I went to a security conference in Las Vegas. Wait, scratch that, I went to Hacker High School party in Las Vegas. I went with 4 recent graduates from SOU and I was the only one that had ever been to sin city before. Poor guys, I'm not the best Vegas tour guide for young unmarried men. I only showed them the best buffets in town.
DefCon, (http://www.defcon.org/) is in it's 16th year and I was shocked at the professional demeanor of these evil doers. They look like normal people. Too much to share here, more on it later, but suffice it to say, I came back paranoid and worried. Forget Global Warming, hackers are the real threat to our future. Oh and there are many 20 something hard bodied, catholic school girl outfit wearing, lock pick clad young ladies that are experts at social engineering, so if you are a geek like me and your on a business trip and a young, amazing young lady walks up and starts flirting with you and you think, this is too good to be true, it is... Dude she will Pwn you before midnight. Let me put it another way, no identification and no registration, cash only to get your badge (which has a computer in it) and the hotel website was hacked so we couldn't make hotel reservations. I left my laptop at home.
I went to Colorado Springs and went to the top of Pikes Peak at 14,100'. Normally when I travel on business, it's flight, cab, hotel, cab, flight. This time I decided to take 2 hours between meetings and see the sites. I've been visiting our client (the city of Colorado Springs) for at least 8 years and I have never seen the beauty of Colorado until this trip. Photos at (http://gallery.mac.com/jimteece#100363&bgcolor=black&view=grid)
I was the Team Mom of Teague's Volleyball team. Check out the site (http:www.AshlandVolleyBall.com/JV) for Videos and photos of the games. The season just ended on Saturday and the long weeks of 2 games and 1 tournament are now over. Teague and the rest of her team did great. I'll miss my job of feeding them and videotaping the games. It's fun to see how much progress she has made as an athlete and team player in just a year.
Popo Peter and Sweet Shirl came through Ashland for the afternoon and took us to dinner at Cucina Biazzi.
A few weeks later Popo Peter came to town with his motorcycle gang (what's left of it... between cancer, failing hearts and failing eyes, half the gang out of commission) and they took us out to dinner at Beasy's on the Creek.
I went to Sonoma to visit with another company that is very similar to Project A in hopes of finding ways to work together on future projects. Of course the global economic crisis might put a damper on things.
I had the honor of presenting the Ashland Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year Award to Ashland School District Superintendent Juli DiChiro.
I went to my first Pac 10 College Game. OSU Beavers versus Hawaii. It was overwhelmingly fun and a great experience. More on that later.
Oh yeah... and I ran into Wil Wheaton at the Black Sheep.
Wil Wheaton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil_Wheaton) was a child actor known for his role in 'Stand By Me' and his teenager TV series role as Wesley Crusher on Star Trek the Next Generation. I have blogged about him before. Our friends Fire-marshal Bob and his wife Robyn showed up, so we gathered our drinks and went to share a table with them. One the way up out of my bar stool I gathered the courage and I leaned over interrupting Wil mid bite of his mashed potatoes, excused the interruption and let him know that I enjoyed his blog (http://wilwheaton.net/) and his books and that I took the guys (Rick and Paul) to PAX last year and they really appreciated his keynote. I made sure not to chat too long, and not to touch him (which is hard for me because I like to touch people) and I went to our table. The conversation at the table became very healing. Out of nowhere, Robyn asked me to start writing again, she said she missed reading my blog. Fire-marshal Bob, made me understand the fire fighter's life code and expectation. Bob fights fires and he rides in helicopters several times a week. I can't explain how or why, but it was very healing for me.
I had my first oyster shooters (OMG they were good) and my first fish and chips (stateside). We laughed and had a great time. And then, just when you think life can't get any better, Wil and his wife (I think her name is Anne) came over to the table and he walked right up to me and shook my hand.
It was a huge moment for me.
Not JUST because I'm a HUGE fan boy (Wil, I did a good job hiding it didn't I?) but because he and his wife came across as real people. People that would be great fun to hang with and drink Oyster shooters with. (I once stood 2 feet away from George Lucas in Vegas with all of my Client Liaison's but I did not say anything to him at all, mainly because I did not want the real person to destroy my fantasy) I showed him the SMS that Paul and I shared and he laughed out loud, it was an inside joke that only He and his blog fans would get. He asked for my card and they walked off.
WOW! Wil Wheaton is a nice, real person. His wife was also so nice. She and Dena made fun of us husbands and we talked about sitting here texting our children. As they left the bar, I looked around and told everyone at the table, how freaking lucky we are, not because we met Wil Wheaton, were lucky because we are sitting in a bar in a little town in a place we live on purpose. We live in a great place and neat people come here to enjoy what we take for granted everyday.
I remember watching Wil's keynote at Macworld a few years back, he looked young in his big black leather jacket, the way I look when I wear a tux and I remember the way he treated everyone that waited in line for a book signing, I was second to last in line, so it took a long time but he was very nice to me, I started out in the middle of the line, but had to run to the restroom and when I got back I went to the end of the line, only to be joined by a man in a wheelchair. Wil was very nice and I enjoyed reading all of his books. His blog inspired me to write mine years ago. Not because I would ever have the audience he would have, but because he writes about his childhood and his parenthood and his geekhood. He does it so well, that it inspired me to do the same.
It was like the planets aligned that night and everything about blogging was there in the room at the same time. My wife, who smiles and tears up at some of my memories as I share them, our friend Robyn and her enjoyment of the blog and her husband Bob, the firefighting helicopter riding hero in our community surrounding me while one of the people that inspired me to write in the first place stood before me, warmly offering a scruffy smile and inspiring me to move forward and write again...
Someday I'll work on proofreading and grammar... ;)
Whew, I told you I had a lot of things happened in the last 2 1/2 months.
We also hired a developer (Todd) to work exclusively on SiB 360, hired a great guy (Carl) to take Bob's place in sales and a college student (Lacey) to be our first product manager at we-envision.com.
We-Envision.com (the partnership between Project A and Open Door Networks to develop apps for the iPhone) has been very exceed-every-expectation successful. It's fun and exciting to be a part of the iPhone global domination movement. When Peter and his motorcycle gang came to town, they took the family to dinner and I was shocked when they all (almost all) whipped out iphones at the table. Apple recently announced that they sold more iPhones in the last quarter than they did in the 5 previous quarters combined and they also sold more than RIM (the crackberry folks). At the security conference, I sat in the front row of one of the sessions, most were standing room only, and I looked down the isle and saw 6 iphones in a row (not including mine). The platform paradigm shift is happening. It's not just a phone with software, it's a true mobile platform. We have been working hard to deliver apps and now have 11 apps being sold by Apple to customers all over the globe. Our top sellers are Art Envi, Art Envi Deluxe and Space Envi. Alan and I are excited to see people from countries all over the planet buying and using our apps. We will be launching more apps over the next few weeks. Look for it all here at http://www.we-envision.com.
Ashland TV launched TV service in 3 Ashland Hotels and is the only local cable company to provide Ducks, Beavers and Trailblazer games on TV. We are also broadcasting 5 hour long sessions with all the local candidates on Channel 20 around the clock until election day, so that voters have a chance to get informed about all the candidates. It's hard to believe that it has been almost 11 months since Dena and I purchased the company.
So ends the catch up.
It's good to be writing again. Thanks to my friends and family that asked me when I was going to update my blog again. I may not be Wil Wheaton or have an audience of millions but it's good to know my family and friends read my blog and look forward to more postings.
50 years ago, our leaders asked our nation to do something insane.
To spend money, To focus it's energy and change it's own dreams and create a space program dedicated to reaching the moon and bringing the human safely home.
Inspiration + Perspiration.
We did it. We put people on the moon and we returned them home safely.
Our space program is alive and well.
The number of recent launches and success stories have reawakend my dream.
My dream was to live in space.
Now my dream is for my children to be one of the first to do so, and maybe in 20 years it will become my dream to watch my grand children.
Visit Nasa.gov and celebrate everything in your life that has changed because of an insane dream, some 50 years ago.
It seems to me that they are trying to make us feel like victims. Take a look at the stories and the photos people uploaded. They are sitting on cruise ships, restaurants, disneyworld, Great wall of china, superbowl...
Do these look like people that are down and out? No! But they are being presented in a suffering way.
Do they worry? Sure they do. Should they? Sure! Especially if they think they are rich and want to live a rich lifestyle while in the end they realize, dang, I just work and live paycheck to paycheck. I have not saved a dime.
I have everything I think I need. I keep getting more and more and dang it, gas prices are high and making me choose between starbucks and gas.
It's time for us to realize, we are not victims of any global plot just victims of our own greed.
What is wrong with cooking dinner? Watching the sunset. Playing with your kids at the park? Pulling weeds? Talking over the fence to your neighbor?
If it isn't from the store or isn't the latest and greatest or doesn't cost a lot of money, then it has no value to us.
Shame on us.
I read this crap and feel that CNN and others are really trying to make us feel bad about ourselves.
Are you employed? Are you able to afford luxuries? The cell phone with unlimited SMS is a luxery. The latest and greatest video Game system is a luxury. The starbucks everyday is a luxury. The fancy car is a luxury. Your life is full of luxury.
So reality is, that America is fearing losing luxury. Fearing that we take for granted the essentials and do not prepare for any catastrophe. We Americans are victims of our own success.
We used to feel good to just have a great career, great marriage and great home. Now we add so many layers of luxury on top of what is important that we really forget what makes us feel good.
We think we are so freaking wealthy we spend like millionaires. We spend rich to feel good about ourselves.
What makes you feel good?
New Shoes? New Video Game? New Book? New Car?
Not me. Sure I get frustrated sometimes at my shoes that are falling apart, my pants have holes in them, my nearly 10 year old car gets crappy gas mileage and my aging laptop is just old.
But I have a great job, (ok a couple of them - i created them). I have a happy family environment, not perfect, but healthy and happy, and I have a plan for the future. I can't ask for much more, except maybe more hours in the day, but I feel good about the place I'm in and I feel great about my plan for the future.
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says
something about human nature that the only form of life we have created
so far is purely destructive. We've created life in our own image. - Stephen Hawking
The X Prize Foundation, best known for its competitions promoting space flights, is offering $10 million to the teams that can produce the most production-ready vehicles that get 100 miles per gallon or more.
It drives me crazy. The automobile industry needs to wake up and get out of the way. If they ran things like the computer industry then we would be there in 3 years.
I'm in the market for a new car. My Lexus 300 is nearing 10 years old and I'm looking. But I can't find one that meets my needs.
That's why I was saying before that we will have 3 cars.
1. Electric car for in town. 35 miles per hour max speed is not a problem.
2. Family Sedan to drive the kids to school and to games.
3. A Truck.
But If you look at the 100 MPG cars, they are all looking to be motorcycles in a body.
In Ashland, Bramo motors is building an electric motorcycle. Very cool looking and definately the future. It's just taking too long to get here. So I'll end up with an interim car.
There are two wolves fighting inside me, the
Cherokee Elder tells his grandchildren around the fire. One is
fearful, greedy, cruel and violent. The other is gentle, kind,
understanding and generous. They have fought each other my entire life.
Which one wins, grandfather? asks one of the children.
According to the U.S. Government, Social Security Office, 10,000 people will retire per DAY over the next 20 years.
The article below is about the first baby-boomer filing for retirement, Kathleen Casey-Kirschling, who filed online for benefits and requested direct deposit. Think about just that fact.
I still have clients that insist that our senior population doesn't use the internet.
This is going to be an interesting 2 decades. I'll be looking to retire when this is all over. The job market will be completely different. Government budgets, economies, services and the definition of success and importance will change so rapidly, our heads will still be spinning.
Because we fear change and are afraid of making hard choices, 2 working Americans will fund the retirement of 1.
