Ready To Launch!

Remember SpaceShipOne and Burt Rutan's crew from Scaled Composites? They're the team that won the $10M X-Prize. Well, they've officially teamed up with Sir Richard Branson of Virgin Group to create The Spaceship Company, and they're going to build a fleet of sub-orbital spaceships and launch aircraft. No kidding.

They plan to be operating commercially by the end of 2008 - a little over 3 years from now! At the moment, a flight on one of Virgin Galactic's new spaceships will cost ya $200,000... but the price is expected to drop.

As soon as the price gets low enough, I'm TOTALLY going up there (if my wife will let me). :)

It's an exciting new world out there!

Work & Love

"Work is love made visible. And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy."
- from Kahlil Gibran's book The Prophet

What I'm Reading

As usual, I've got a collection of books that I'm in the middle of... and I thought I'd give ya a peek behind the curtain:

The Prophet, by Kahlil Gibran. Gibran was a mystic, poet, philosopher and artist from Lebanon. He wrote this one in 1923 (I love old books)

The Book of Five Rings, by Miyamoto Musashi. A classic book on military strategy, written by a Japanese samurai who died in 1645 (did I mention I like old books?).

How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life, by Peter Robinson (former presidential speechwriter). A very affectionate biography of Reagan, full of autobiographical info about Robinson and and interesting look at some of the big events of the 80's (i.e. the end of the cold war...).

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, by Edward Morris. Just got this one in the mail, so I haven't actually started it yet, but I'm a huge fan of Teddy R and can't wait to dive in.

Swiss Army Knife, 21st Century Style

I was flipping through the latest issue of WIRED magazine and came across a little blurb about a new "Victorionox SwissMemory" tool. It's basically your standard mini swiss army knife - scissors, blade, nail file, etc... only this one also has a mini LED flashlight and a USB flash drive, complete with built-in data security software...

At $157 per, it's quite a bit more expensive than the classic, which will only set ya back $16. But hey, can your classic knife carry 512 MB?

Oh yeah, they've also got a bladeless version for airtravelers. Now THAT is 21st century for ya...

In Search Of ISO Value

Interesting bit in a recent issue of Inc Magazine, about ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 certifications, particularly for management & creative-type work. The writer basically asks the question "Is it worth it?" and concludes "Well, sometimes... but not always..."

One of the arguements in favor of seeking an ISO certification is that you need to be certified in order to get certain contracts. One proponent of ISO even acknowledges it doesn't make you better, it's just an entry criteria for working with particular organizations.

I'd suggest that if getting a certification doesn't actually help your organization do the work better, then maybe you don't really want to do business with anyone who insists you get the certification anyway (i.e. they want you to do it even if it doesn't actually improve your performance).

Dancing With Myself?

I want to get a sense of whether anyone reads these postings.

If I'm just talking to myself, I can do that without typing, so if you're reading this, please leave a comment to say "I wuz here"... 'cause if nobody's reading it, I should probably try something else...

Countering TiVo

So there was a commercial on the radio the other day, for some show (Out West, I think) that some network (ABC?) is going to run on Fri, Sat & Sun. Same show, all three days. The line was "more opportunities for you to watch."

They used to call 'em reruns. Then "encore performances." Now, it's a big favor for the viewer, giving them "more opportunities!" (and everyone loves opportunities, right?). But I think there's more going on here than just clever marketing. I think it's actually about TiVo...

What's the main source of revenue for broadcasters? Commercials. What happens when you TiVo a show? You skip the commercials. Do advertisers and networks know this? Absolutely! So, since they can't prevent you from recording a show & zapping the ads, I think they decided to try to make it unnecessary to TiVo this particular show.

Hey, if you want to watch it but you've got plans for Friday night, no need to record it - you can always catch it *live* on Saturday... or Sunday... commercials and all... Lucky you!

Will it work? Dunno. But I won't be surprised if we see more networks try the "More Opportunities For You ('cause we Care!)" approach in the near future...

I Want To Google My House

So a weird thing happened the other day. I was looking for something in my house. Something small. My initial instinct was to do a Google search to see where it might be.

Now, that's a pretty stupid thought, right? Google provides access to lots of information, but it won't tell me where the kids have hidden the remote control. At least, Google in 2005 won't do that.

But once everything has an RFID chip embedded in it, then my Wired House Of The Future could theoretically be able to tell me where everything is. So maybe there won't be an RFID in every piece of every jigsaw puzzle, but things like car keys, eye glasses, cell-phones, wallets, remote controls and other small, easy-to-lose objects could certainly have RFID's in them.

And naturally I won't go to Google.com to search for my own stuff... but it's conceivable to have some kind of "MyHouseGoogle" database residing in the walls and keeping track of all the stuff I misplace.

"House Computer - where are my keys?"

Cone Of Silence

So apparently someone finally developed a personal privacy device for cube-dwellers, akin to Maxwell Smart's "cone of silence." It basically scrambles your voice, so the person you're talking with on the phone can understand you, but the person standing a few feet away can not.

So, where do I get one?

Technovelgy

You know what's a cool site? Technovelgy, which explores the technology of science fiction - which modern breakthroughs were anticipated by writers 50 years ago, which haven't come to fruition yet, and which sound like they're right out of a book (that maybe hasn't been written).

Anyway, an interesting way to "lower your associative barriers" which is a fancy way of saying "stimulate creativity." Enjoy!

Personalize Your Google

Google just rolled out a new feature that lets you personalize your Google page. I added local weather, national news and a link to my gmail account, and the screen still has the elegant, minimalist feel Google has always had.

I'm a big fan of Google for a lot of reasons, this is just the most recent. Check it out when you get a chance...

Oddness of Everything

George Will had a great article in the 23 May issue of Newsweek, talking about the dangers (intellectual & moral & maybe even physical) of "an excess of certitude."

It reminded me of a book by David Bodanis, titled The Secret House, which takes you on a micro-level tour of an ordinary day. It blew my mind when I was in high school (and still blows me away today).

It also reminded me of something I read in Juan Enriquez's book As The Future Catches You. In 1996 (less than 10 years ago!), scientists discovered an organism calledMethanococcus jannaschii, and concluded they belonged to a third branch in the tree of life (the other two being prokarya [bacteria] and eukarya [fungi, algae, plants & animals]. They're called Archaea, and they don't breath oxygen - they breath iron. We didn't know they existed until the mid 90's, and now that we know about them, we are finding them everywhere. In fact, they may account for one fifth of the biomass on Planet Earth.

So tell me, what do you know for certain?

Tech Connect

Did you know AFRL has a thing called Tech Connect? It's basically a gateway to info about AFRL's technology - and it's also an entry point to TriNET (a joint-service technology information network). So if you're looking for info about tech solutions and you think AFRL (or the Navy or Army) might have what you need, check out the website or call 1-800-203-6451.

Pass it on... please!

New News Service

Check out the newest service offered by the nice people at the Tom Peters Group - the TP Wire Service, which offers "breaking news, tracking trends and innovation."

Fear

What freaks you out? What scares you? (hint: you probably answered that question reflexively as soon as you read it, then subconsciously scrambled to cover up that answer...)

Don't worry about overcoming your fears just yet. Let's start by simply recognizing it... and not letting a subconscious, unrecognized fear of something drive our behavior without us even knowing it...

Sportsmanship, Civility, Integrity

As a general rule, I hate sports metaphors, sports stories, and that sort of thing. But I just came across a story I couldn't pass up.

Andy Roddick recently lost a tennis match in Rome. Actually, he temporarily won the match when a line judge called a ball out and awarded him the game winning point. But he checked the mark in the clay, saw the ball was actually in and declined the point. He went on to lose, which cost him about $27K.

He described his act of integrity this way:"I didn't think it was anything extraordinary."

Extraordinary or not, I think it's worth mentioning. I'm glad to see there's a professional athlete out there whose integrity is worth more than $27K. Almost makes me want to watch tennis.

Disruptive Innovation

When you get a chance, you've got to check out Clayton Christensen's stuff online - he's the Disruptive Innovation dude & Harvard Business School prof who basically explains why Southwest airlines, Apple's ipod shuffle, Gen McArthur's "hit 'em where they ain't" battle of the pacific, all managed to make such a big impact.

The basic principle is that incumbents (i.e. successful organizations & companies) keep making "good" decisions and doing the "right" thing, taking care of their most profitable & loyal customers, which leads to their destruction when small, sneaky, innovative organizations come in and provide goods and services to two distinct customer groups: overshot customers and nonconsumers.

The overshot customer is me and my home computer. The past 3 computers I've purchased have all had WAY more capability, bells & whistles than I ever use (same with my cable service, for that matter). That is, the computer guys are overshooting my needs and providing me with more technology than I really want… which means if someone figures out a way to provide me LESS than the current cutting edge desktop capabilities (or fewer tv channels), and can charge less for it, they are going to get my business and eat the incumbent computer provider's lunch…

The other category is the nonconsumer. That's the spec-ops guy who's never had access to real time imagery until this new thing called BRITE came along. From the official imagery provicer's perspective, these dusty, muddy guys were not imagery consumers. But they wanted to be, and were delighted to have anything at all... and they loved that it did not require much in the way of training, money or ability. That's also me with my new iPod shuffle. I never would have shelled out $300 for a full-up iPod (sadly, I'm just not that hip)… but a low-end, minimal capability, low-cost gadget that's kinda fun and within reach of the amazon.com gift certificates I got at Christmas time… I went from nonconsumer to consumer...

Key line: "Disruptive products or services initially are inferior to existing offerings, at least along standard value metrics." (emphasis added). That's the thing - disruptive innovation does not involve going after the incumbents where they are strong, but rather hitting 'em where they ain't, like MacArthur in the Pacific. Pursuing new value metrics.

Ebay is another great example - they started out swapping beanie babies, and the used car salesman down the street ignored it because it was serving nonconsumers (who's going to buy a car on ebay?). By 2003, more than 300,000 cars were sold on Ebay. Dang.

Apparently, there are ways to see this sort of thing coming, if you're the incumbent. And there are ways to make this happen, if you're not. Read the article, and check out his books (The Innovator's Dilemma, The Innovator's Solution).

Pushing The Envelope

"If what you're doing isn't almost getting you fired, it's probably not that interesting." - Hugh MacLeod

The Illusion of Control

So many people seem to be fighting so desperately to assert control over their world - from dictators to bureaucrats (but I repeat myself). In a recent example, there's Dr. Hammer's "process enterprise" theory, which is based on the belief that control is 1) possible and 2) desirable.

My pastor recently pointed out that fear is always the result of a perceived lack of control. Not that a lack of control always causes fear (it can be quite exhilarating) - but every fear is caused by feeling out of control. Seeking to control is basically seeking to avoid fear.

The thing is, control is generally an illusion, so recognizing that we are not in control means we are facing reality. And that can be scary, but it's generally a good idea. Ignoring or denying reality is generally a bad idea.

Fear is not bad. What's important is to respond appropriately to fear. Don't let it be your primary motivator. Don't let it run your life or drive you to seek safety and control. That is, don't let fear blind you to reality.

Eye-Robot (apologies to Dr. Asimov)

So a couple former military R&D officers from Israel came up with a remote-controlled video camera about the size of a baseball. It's called the Eye Ball, and it's primarily intended for law-enforcement types (and, they hope, military users). The ideas is to throw this little thing into an area (say, a hostage situation) and let it look around, beaming back the real time audio & video so you know what the heck is going on before you physically enter the room.

So it's cool tech, but that's not why I mentioned it. The world is full of cool tech. The key bit in the article, and the reason I'm writing about it, is this:

Instead of throwing it, we've seen some officers moving the Eye Ball around on one of those little wireless cars you can get at Radio Shack.

Bottom Line: Never underestimate the innovative capabilities of your users... and never fall for the LIE that tech developers really understand the real-life CONOPS, configuration, or (all too often) the requirement.

Have you talked with a user today? This week? Have you paid them a visit?