A dream come true . . .

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I think one of the keys to happiness is to be thankful for what we already have.  I travel a lot and sometimes I forget what a privilege it is, even with the increased security and crowded flights.

Here is a video about a guy in Deli, India, who bought a retired Airbus A300 and put it in his yard so kids can achieve their dream of sitting in an airplane.  The video reports that 99% of Indians have never boarded an airplane, and that hundreds visit the plane every week.  Think about that next time you fly and see if you don’t feel a little bit better about your life.

Mr. Gupta, I’m sure you are inspiring a lot of future engineers and airline pilots.  Well done!

Tom Keller is blogging

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My friend Tom Keller is blogging, and I know this because he asked if I was responsible for a quote that he wanted to use in his most recent post.  Years ago I said something like "building a business is a marathon, not a sprint."  Now I realize it is a series of marathons, and that perspective has helped me stay in the race.  Lots of entrepreneurs that I’ve met over the years, especially during the dot com bubble, quit after a year or two because they just couldn’t keep sprinting.  I still sprint when I need to, but you can’t sprint the whole marathon and expect to finish.  Check out Tom’s post on keeping your work life balanced.

Tom wrote another post on "The Significance of Voluntary Transactions."  I love thinking about economics and how they make the world go ’round.  Tom takes on "Fair Trade Coffee" and "Sweat Shop Labor" and explains the economic view of them very well.  I hope Tom writes more along these lines and gives some ideas about how to make the world a better place, while working within the laws of economics.

My first email from Antarctica

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Penguins

On Thursday I received my very first email from Antarctica, and I was forwarded a voicemail from Antarctica as well.

John Weller, one of the driving forces behind the Last Ocean Project is on a ship in Antarctica where he’s on board a Russian ice breaker for the next 25 days.  I’ve posted his most recent updates at Lastocean.org.

Is it just me, or are there penguins everywhere?  Ever since I met John and saw his amazing photographs of Antarctica, I’ve been noticing just how many penguins there are on greeting cards, advertisements, and as toys.  See if you don’t start noticing all the penguins around you now!

More Kindle Books

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I’m still loving the Kindle, Amazon.com’s new ebook reader.  I’ve read four full-length books on it now and except for reference books I think it’s better than paper.  I just checked to see how many books are available in the Kindle format and was really surprised.  The last time I checked a week or so ago, I’m pretty sure there were less than 10,000 books.  Now there are 93,756!  I also just read that the first third-party books are available.   Even 100,000 is a small fraction of the books in print, but it’s more than enough to keep me busy.

FJ Cruiser Car Computer Status

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June 19th, 2007  – My Infil T3 Car Computer that I bought earlier this year has died.  It’s still under warrenty, but mp3car.com can’t get a replacement anytime soon, so they have agreed to replace it with a new Dual-Core machine with a separate touch screen.  Installation won’t be as easy, but it should be a better machine.

September, 2007 – I’ve received the computer, but the display is still on backorder.  I powered the computer up and it seems to work.  One thing I like already is that it can run on 12v or 120v, so I’ll be able to bring it inside for updates.

October, 2007 – Still waiting.  No idea when the display will ship.

November, 2007 – Still waiting.  Again, no eta on the display.  Powered up the computer again to make sure it still works.  Got to use the Microsoft automated product authorization phone line to reenable Vista.  It worked great!

December 10, 2007 – MP3Car.com says they are shipping the monitor!  UPS verifies that it is in route.

Last Ocean Project update

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Gentoo_penguins_in_50mph_wind_3 John Weller left the Falkland Islands this morning on a Russian icebreaker, bound for a 38 day trip to Antarctica.  I’ve updated the Lastocean.org blog for John, and I’m expecting frequent updates and the occasional photo during the trip.  I wrote about the Last Ocean project in my post, One last place we haven’t screwed up.

John’s been camping within walking distance of four penguin colonies on Saunders Island for the last 12 days.  He called me yesterday to give me an update and he’s very excited.  I’m still amazed at how quickly our world of telecommunications has advanced.  The call sounded as if John was next door, though there was a slight delay and it did cost $4 a minute.  He also said (after his first phone card ran out) that it took him fifteen minutes to get an outside line, but it’s still amazing that it’s even possible.  He also emailed me a couple of photos from an Internet cafe.  Shackleton wouldn’t know what to think about all of this.

In my update on the Last Ocean blog, I mentioned my good friend Herb Morreale and his new blog about Domino Theory.  Check it out.  This is something Herb’s been working on for years and once you get the idea, you’ll be seeing Dominoes everywhere and wanting to be one yourself.

Here is another of John’s photos – I can’t wait to see the new portfolio.  Photographs are copyright John Weller, 2007.

Commerson_dolphins_in_surf_2

Thank you DIA

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It must be tough running an airport.  When things go well, people pretty much take the airport for granted, but when a big storm parks itself over the airport and shuts down flights or an airline has trouble keeping their commitments for departing and arriving on time, the people running the airport take a lot of heat.

I myself am a frequent flier, and I’m pretty quick to think I could do it better when things aren’t working well.  I’ve heard myself say more than once, "If I were running the airport there would be plenty of power outlets and WiFi would be free."  I hate paying for 24 hours of access just to sync Outlook for five minutes before I jump on a plane.

The people running the Denver International Airport (DIA) must be listening to their customers, because months ago I started noticing that more power outlets were available and now according to an article in the Denver Post by Elizabeth Aguilera, DIA is offering free WiFi service.  Thank you DIA, and the next time my flight is delayed, I’ll try to remember that you are trying to make traveling a little more convenient for people like me.

Kindle ebook weekend update

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Kindle2 I promised I would do an update after getting some experience with my new Amazon Kindle.  After only a few days, it’s pretty clear to me that I won’t be buying many more books of the paper and cardboard variety. 

Before you write me off as a techie who doesn’t get how important real books are let me say that I love books.  If I had to choose between technology and books, I’d probably choose books.  And I have a lot of books – I’m going to guess I have about 2,000 books between my bookshelves at home and work.  I’ll always love the books that where mine as a child, and books that were my dad’s as a child.  I even have some of my grandfather’s books.  No amount of electronics will ever replace them, so I get that paper-based book are important.

I also love the random books that fall in my hands when I’m traveling, or that friends give me because they know that I will want to read them.

So I love books, but mostly I love reading.  I love the way that I can escape, and learn, and focus, and create my own pictures.  And it turns out, I can do that without paper.  After having spent a long weekend with my new Kindle, I just went and deleted all the books on my amazon wishlist that are available for the Kindle, but not before having Amazon send me a free sample of each to my Kindle.  My iPod, and then my Zune and most recently my Zune Pass changed how I listen to music, and now I’m certain that the Kindle is going to change how I read.

The think I like most about it is that it just works.  Right out of the box, with only a few minutes looking at the user’s manual and NO setup, and I was comfortable.  Since Wednesday, I’ve read a novel and started a second, I’ve read copies of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and the Seattle Times, and I’ve listened to the first part of an Audible audio book while sorting laundry.

I’ve read the Kindle everywhere I’d read a paper book.  This afternoon I took it outside into the bright Colorado sunshine and compared the display to a paper book.  The Kindle was easier on my eyes.  When the light is low, I just make the font a bit bigger.  When it’s dark, I clip my book light onto the leather cover that came with the Kindle and the experience is even better than with a paper book.  With a paper book, I’m always having to readjust the book light as it moves every time I turn the page.  With the Kindle, I just touch a button and I’m silently on to the next page.  One criticism of the Kindle is that the display is not back-lit, but they were trying to duplicate paper and I think they made the right call.  I don’t feel any fatigue from reading it, whether it is in bright sunshine or total darkness with a book light clipped on the cover.

While you don’t even need a computer to use the Kindle, and you can buy a book or magazine without a computer connection, you can connect it if you want and manually copy over any documents or unprotected ebooks that you already own.  As a test, I went to the gutenberg.org web page and downloaded a Mark Twain book (it’s public domain now and free) and I had no trouble saving it to the Kindle.  It occurred to me that I could also save music lyrics to the Kindle too, and that worked just fine.

I’ve been working on writing a book of my own for about five years.  OK, I haven’t been working very hard at it, but this just might get me going again.  Amazon makes it easy to publish for the Kindle and this might be the perfect format, or at least an interesting option for me.

So, what could be better?  At $399, it’s not cheap.  It’s new though and I imagine the price will come down.  eBooks are about half the cost or less of printed books, so in time I might make it back.  I haven’t dropped it yet, but it feels like it might break if I dropped it on to a hard floor.  I was at a friend’s house last night, and a good friend who loves books wouldn’t touch it because she was afraid she might break it.  It hasn’t hung or done anything strange since I first turned it on and the (free) high-speed wireless connection has always been there when I needed it.  I’ve found more than enough books that are available for the Kindle to keep me occupied, though it’s a small fraction of the books in print.  This will change though, and I imagine most new books will be available electronically.

My first review was picked up by thekindleblog.com, and they seem to be collecting reviews, so check them out.  Or as I’ve already told a couple of my techie/bookie friends – just buy it.

Amazon Kindle in my hands

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I’ve been a big fan of Amazon.com from the very beginning, and I’ve written about them before.  After reading Brad Feld’s blog on Monday and realizing that their new ebook was shipping, I ordered an Amazon Kindle and it arrived today.

Wow.  This is the closest thing to magic I’ve seen in a long time.  The photos don’t do it justice and the praise that has already been written doesn’t come close to describing how cool this is.  The design feels right to me, starting with the box it shipped in.  I was using it effectively within two minutes, and I had already sampled a book and bought today’s New York Times (75 cents) within five minutes.  It just works.

It was shipped to me already connected to my amazon.com account, and it came loaded with a letter from Jeff Bezos addressed to "Terry" which was a nice bit of personalization.  The wireless just worked.  No setup, not searching for a hot-spot, it just worked.  The display is amazing.  It looks like paper.  I did not realize that the electronic paper technology was here but apparently it is.  Even with it asleep, it displays a nice picture that reminds me of an old book.  Here’s how it looks, but again, the photos don’t do it justice.  This is going to be big.  Really big. 

Kindle

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W3W3 Interview on Unified Communications

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Larry Nelson, the co-founder of w3w3.com Media Network, and Mark Richtermeyer, the CEO of The Spitfire Group, interviewed me last week on the subject of disruptive technology and the effect unified communications is having on the enterprise.   You can find the audio interview here.

Unified communications is a term that means different things to different people, and it isn’t brand new.  Companies like Avaya, Nortel, Cisco and many others have been working to bridge computers and telephones and all the different forms of communications.  When I left AT&T sixteen years ago, it was because I believed there was a place for a new company to help build that bridge. 

More recently Microsoft has made a big move into unified communications.  While I spent a lot of time talking about Microsoft in the interview, I also point out that this is a technology that is going to span across a lot of companies and it will create new opportunities for everyone.  My customers expect us to work with the network, the PBX, the databases and the desktops that they already have installed.  A rising tide floats all boats, and the tide is coming in!

Thanks Larry and Mark, it was fun talking to you both.

Tech and Car Computer Update

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I’ve been really busy – Gold Systems is having a record year and I’m just not getting as much time to play as I’d like!  Still, I get a lot of questions about the car computer project and other various gadgets that show up from time to time at my house, so I thought I would do a quick update.

  • Car Computer – I’m still stuck waiting for the touchscreen to ship.  It was mid-June when the Infill T3 died and I still haven’t got the new machine ready to go.  I’ve got the computer (thanks Mp3car.com!) and it’s hot – Dual Core, 4 gig of ram – but I’m still waiting for the touchscreen.  It’s a new transflective device that is readable even in direct sunlight so I’m hoping it’s worth the wait and the fabrication that Team FJ is signing up for to get it installed.  It should be here the first week of December.
  • Zune 2 – I ordered the new Zune months ago from amazon.com, and after a last minute delay, they emailed on Saturday to say it has shipped.
  • Chumby – What’s a Chumby?  Find out at Chumby.com  It’s on my kitchen counter right now but it could end up anywhere.  This is part of my quest to find an inexpensive, programmable, wireless-internet-connected device that I can use around the house.  This one might even have a place on my desk at work if I can hack it a bit.
  • Amazon Kindle – Brad Feld reminded me this morning in his blog that the Kindle was just released. Twenty minutes later, mine was on the way, scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. The Kindle is an electronic book, with some great inovations that just might make the idea work this time.  I read my first eBook on my Palm VII years ago, but the screen left a lot to be desired.  The Kindle is getting great reviews by people who’ve played with it, and people who haven’t tried it seem to hate it.  I love my books, but I’d be happy to trade a few bookcases worth for a device that really works.  My favorite quote comes from Zoot, commenting at Gizmodo, who said, "Any nerd who, on seeing one of these for the first time doesn’t just stand there playing with it and giggling uncontrollably for ten minutes has no soul."

That pretty much blows the gadget budget for awhile.  I’ll do an update after Kindle determines whether I have a soul or not.