Friedman Billings Ramsey Technology and Growth Conference

It was a very interesting day at the FBR conference yesterday. At lunch just before my turn on stage, I had the privilege to sit with Manny Friedman (see his bio below). We share an optimism about the underlying strength of the market and of the technology industry. Manny gave a brief overview of how he sees things and netted out the basis of his optimism because of five fundamental sea changes. My talk was about the Future of the Internet. I tried to paint a picture of investment opportunity around the Next Generation of the Internet -- Fast, Always On, Everywhere, Natural, Intelligent, Easy, and Trusted. That is my story and I am sticking to it. (read more)

Conferences May 29, 2003 10:38 PM

How Big Blue Is Turning Geeks Into Gold

Fortune Magazine just ran an interesting story about IBM called How Big Blue Is Turning Geeks Into Gold. It is a good read. I have been privileged to work with many people in IBM Research over the years and have learned much from them. It is heartening to read about how customers are learning from them.

e-Business May 29, 2003 10:16 PM

Travel Woes - Feedback

As expected, there has been much feedback about the American Airlines information updates and coordination. The tone of all of it was "I can top that one!". Chris Herot told me about his experience at Boston's Logan Airport waiting for an AA flight to London which was delayed due to weather.  While he was waiting in the Admirals Club, he noticed that the monitors continued to display the original departure time, as did the web site and the 800 number. Meanwhile, the staff at the desk said that the flight was not leaving for at least an hour.  When the scheduled departure time passed, the monitors listed the flight as departed!  Fifteen minutes later he called the 800 number and they insisted the flight was in the air. Apparently, if no one intervenes, the computer marks a flight as departed when its scheduled time passes.  An hour or so later, the flight did depart, but there was still no indication of the updated or actual departure time on the airport monitors. I am sure American is aware of the integration problem and hopefully they are working on standards-based web services protocols to enable the disparate systems to communicate with each other.

e-Business May 29, 2003 09:36 PM

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Technology & Growth Conference

Friedman, Billings, Ramsey (FBR) will be hosting their 7th annual Technology & Growth Investor Conference in midtown Manhattan May 28-29. Presenters include more than 120 leading companies in technology (display and semiconductor, enterprise platform and application software, enterprise services, media infrastructure, network software, specialty contracting, telecom equipment & services and wireless services) and healthcare (specialty pharmaceuticals and biotechnology). The conference will be held at the Millennium Hotel Broadway. More than 700 attendees are expected. I will be the luncheon speaker.

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Conferences May 27, 2003 06:17 PM

Travel Woes

All things considered, we are very fortunate to have a transportation system that is highly reliable and gets us to where we want to go in an amazingly short time. The travel industry is a complex one and there is a huge legacy of process, management systems, and technology that makes it difficult to be as flexible and nimble as we all would like. Having offered that perspective, it is still at times incredible what we put up with. (read more)

e-Business May 26, 2003 04:51 PM

How To Fill A Pepper Ball

Of the many subjects I have written about on patrickWeb, the one thing that continues to elicit the most feedback is The Pepper Ball. I first wrote about it in 1996 in the gadgets section of patrickWeb. For some unknown reason, it seems I have become the technical support department to the world's pepper ball users! I have gotten emails asking where to buy a Pepper Ball,  how to repair one with broken handles, but mostly asking if I could explain how to refill the pepper supply. Yesterday I got an email from a frustrated man in Virginia Beach, Virginia who wrote, "How do you (or can you) refill the damned thing?"

I am hoping that the following explanation will make a match for people doing web searches looking for the answer. If you look at the Pepper Ball picture carefully, you will see a rectangular shaped area on the left side. It is about 3/4" wide and 1 1/2" long. By pressing on this "door" toward the bottom of the Pepper Ball, it will slide open. I use a small funnel to fill it so I don't have to chase peppercorns around the kitchen floor.

Gadgets May 24, 2003 03:15 PM

Newsgator

Thanks to Buzz Bruggerman at Activewords for telling me about Newsgator. More on this later. It is a very nice blog reader that places news feeds right into Outlook. What is interesting is that you can also use Newsgator to make postings to your weblog.

Blogging May 24, 2003 01:34 PM

Firetruck

Everything was on schedule as the Boeing 757 taxied toward the runway at the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. All of a sudden there was a loud crashing sound and the airplane shuttered. Apparently the fire truck driver had gone for lunch and left the emergency brake off. The giant yellow truck rolled across the tarmac and smashed into the plane. No one was hurt, thankfully. A few inches to the left and the truck would have hit one of the engines or worse yet the wing fuel tank. The American Airlines crew and ground staff handled the emergency very professionally. After a safety team had walked through the plane to make sure everyone was ok, all passengers disembarked down a portable stairway and we then walked across the tarmac and up some outdoor stairs back into the terminal. Diaster was avoided but then I witnessed another problem. (read more)

e-Business May 21, 2003 12:10 PM

Adam Smith's Invisible Hand

I knew that eventually competition would begin to take hold in broadband. I first wrote about this in a reflection May 12, 1998 -- and must admit I was a bit premature. But now, at last, it is happening. This morning at Vortex 2003 in Laguna Niguel, Larry Bibbio, vice chairman of Verizon, said that they have reduced their monthly DSL fee by $15 and that the reduction was "not promotional". Surely, the cable companies will not stand by and lose market share. Direct TV is aggressively advertising broadband internet access via satellite. Prices will come down and speeds will go up. What we need is even more competition and the electric utilities are about to offer it. In Pennsylvania, PPL Telecom has begun to charge their subscribers for "Broadband over Power Line" service beginning May 1, 2003. (read more)

Internet Technology May 20, 2003 01:24 AM

Vortex 2003 - The Why-Fi Debate

The VORTEX 2003 conference begins this coming Sunday (5/18). I am looking forward to seeing many friends and colleagues from the industry and the media. It will also be exciting to participate in a debate on Tuesday morning with Peter A. Bernstein, President, infonautics Consulting, Inc. entitled "Why-Fi: Will 802.11 be the most disruptive technology since the Internet?"

The conference organizers say that "In this head-to-head debate, two of the industry's most saavy soothsayers will explore the impact of WiFi. Will WiFi be a profit machine and the death knell for other network technologies and business plans? Or will WiFi be a flash in the pan, generating lots of press and hype but little real ROI? Find out as our wireless experts square off on just how disruptive 802.11 will be". (read more)

WiFi May 16, 2003 03:09 PM

Netflix - Master Of Inventory

Netflix has an amazing system for managing their DVD rental inventory. I watched a Netflix DVD this past weekend. On Tuesday I put the DVD in the pre-stamped, pre-addressed mailer and took it to the post office around noon. I received an email from "Netflix Receiving" time stamped 11:27 AM the next day that they had received it. This was not FedEx or Airborne. It was normal USPS mail. I don't know how they do it. There must be some kind of special relationship that enables this amazing speed. At 6:44 PM I received an email from "Netflix Shipping" that the next DVD in my queue had been shipped. "Shipped" actually means that their system had updated my record to show that I had returned the prior DVD, determined which selection was next in my queue, located the nearest distribution center to where I live, addressed the mailer to me, delivered the DVD to the USPS, updated my queue to reflect the remaining choices, and then sent me an email. The DVD arrived in my physical mailbox at 2:00 PM the next day. They have an amazing distribution system.

Disclosure: I have a very small investment in Netflix.

Other stories at patrickWeb about e-Business

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e-Business May 16, 2003 02:48 PM

On Demand

In the height of the "dot com" frenzy a class of companies emerged called Application Service Providers (ASP). The ASPs claimed to solve all known business problems by providing applications over the Internet. Solutions covered a wide range of activities from integration of the supply chain to a complete implementation of "office" functionality - spreadsheet, word processor, data base, presentation capability, etc. The value proposition was that you no longer had to buy Microsoft Office – you could just use that functionality via a server over the Internet. The problem was that it didn’t really solve a problem.

Although I continue to be enthusiastic about the vast potential of the Internet, I felt at the time that the ASP model was premature -- primarily because there were not enough people with always on, high quality, reliable, connections to the net. (network computers suffered from the same problem). On top of the network issue was the fact that the ASP solutions introduced were of questionable value and the result was that the ASP model essentially disappeared. What goes around, comes around – the ASP is back. The successful ones will be e-businesses on demand. (read more)

e-Business May 14, 2003 10:20 AM

Wind Chill

It was supposed to be a warm and sunny day. I had a long ride ahead of me from Pennsylvania through New York to Connecticut on Interstate 84. The temperature barely got above 55, and there was no blue sky or sun to be seen. A slight drizzle was in the air, although fortunately, I did not encounter the scattered showers. Riding a motorcycle in 55 degree weather may not sound unreasonably cold until you consider the wind chill I have always been curious about exactly what wind chill means, so I did a bit of research on it. Basically, it has to do with how cold a person feels due to the effect of wind. Not a big revelation. The calculations are based on a formula, which was arrived at through empirical means. The literature consistently makes the point that the calculation of wind chill is just an approximation but you would not think so based on the formula. (read more)

Gadgets May 10, 2003 02:06 PM

Spam - The Role Of Governments

In prior postings I have asserted that when it comes to the spam problem, technology will work better than legislation. I have not said that governments have no role. The FTC Spam Forum was a very good thing. It has raised a lot of attention and focus on the issue. Orson Swindle, one of the commissioners, was aggressive in challenging the corporate world to "solve the problem". Such encouragement is good. I can't prove that it was because of the FTC stick but it is very encouraging to have read recently that AOL, MSN, and Yahoo! have started a dialogue on how to deal with the problem. Governments have a role in prosecution of existing laws and making the public aware of the results (with the help of the media). Governments also operate the court system and speedy trials of fraudulent activities by spammers is extremely helpful. It was quite encouraging today to see that a federal judge awarded Earthlink damages of $16.4 million and a permanent injunction against a Buffalo, NY spammer. According to Patricia M. LaHay of the Associated Press, the spammer was the leader of a ring that used EarthLink services to send some 825 million pieces of unsolicited "spam" e-mail in the past year. He is now banned from sending spam ever again -- and from helping others send it. (read more)

Public Policy May 7, 2003 07:33 PM

FTC Spam Forum - Press Coverage

Federal regulators have only one ultimately effective tool - regulation (or the threat of regulation). Regulation through legislation is their hammer and when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail! Another way to say it is that when you are a regulator, many problems cry out for a regulatory solution. The regulators say the spam problem has gotten so bad that something must be done to protect the Internet. Senator Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is proposing a national "do-not-spam" registry similar to a service soon to go live that will block unwanted telemarketing calls. A do not call registry could potentially work -- in America. The Internet, on the other hand, is global and quite different in how it works technically and economically. I don't see any possibility of a "do not email" registry working. Most companies struggle to manage their own email list. Do we really think the government can manage the complexities of a national email database -- keep it up to date and keep it secure from hackers? (read more)

Public Policy May 7, 2003 06:39 PM

FTC Spam Forum Press Coverage

There will surely be a number of stories in the media following the FTC Spam Forum. The first story I saw was by David Ho of the Associated Press. Here are two excerpts.

"New laws that are unenforceable for myriad reasons or that are overtaken by the advances of technology have the potential to do more harm than good," FTC commissioner Orson Swindle said. "No single law, no single new technology, no new initiative, no new meetings are going to solve this problem alone."

John Patrick, chairman of the industry-supported Global Internet Project, said any U.S. law would do little to stop spam from other countries and the only solution is blocking it with new technology.

Public Policy May 3, 2003 08:50 PM

Always On - Almost: part 3

I made it to Philadelphia for my connecting flight and am sitting in the gate area. There are no airline clubs or lounges in the communter airline section of the airport, but the Sprint PCS CDMA card in my ThinkPad works very well. In fact I have not been to a place yet where it didn't work. I haven't used dial-up once since I got the CDMA card. It isn't precisely "always on" and it sure isn't WiFi but I am getting hooked on it as a very good alternative to have.

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Internet Technology May 2, 2003 03:44 PM

Spam Legislation - Whether You Want It Or Not

The Federal Trade Commission spam Forum in Washington this morning was quite ineteresting. The room was packed. Two FTC commissioners spoke -- one suggesting caution on any legislative initiatives and the other saying "it can't hurt". I think it can hurt and likely will if passed. I spoke on a panel along with seven attorneys. All seven urged Federal legislation. I was a lone voice; speaking out for patience to allow for technology to address the problem. (read more)

Internet Technology May 2, 2003 01:08 PM

Always On -- almost: part 2

Nothing like being at Washington National Airport on a Friday afternoon waiting for a flight. I have to admit that having the Sprint PCS CDMA card in my ThinkPad makes it more bearable. WiFi will be everywhere but it isn't yet. Dial-up is hardly an acceptable alternative. Sprint's "3G" service *is* a good alternative (see "Always On - Almost"). It isn't as fast as they claim but I really like it because you don't have to connect any wires. When travelling I leave the Sprint card in the ThinkPad's pcmcia slot. It finds a signal and you click connect. That is all there is to it. In a few seconds you are in "always on" mode. If it loses the signal it reconnects automatically. Not as good as WiFi but a very good alternative to have.

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Internet Technology , WiFi May 2, 2003 12:49 PM