Lehigh University

Thanks to fellow Lehigh University alumus, Tom Healy, for telling me about a story in The Brown and White about my recent visit to the university. The story by Jennifer Iwinski, "Author, alumnus discusses Internet future", was very kind. Alumni involvement and support is so important. Without alumni support, tuition would be even higher! Giving of your time is important too. It is part of the learn-earn-return cycle. All alumni have a lot to contribute and I was happy to do my small part. The rewards from spending time with students are many, as I wrote in "Youth at the Gate".

Complete trip report
Youth at the Gate

Travels September 29, 2003 04:19 PM

The Sharer

There was an excellent piece in the New York Times Magazine today called "The Sharer" written by David Diamond. He had a Q&A interchange with Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux. The final question he asked was about Linux being the nemesis of Microsoft. The answer from Linus will be a classic. "I just can't see myself in the position of the nemesis, since I just don't care enough. To be a nemesis, you have to actively try to destroy something, don't you? Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect". See the full Q&A at The New York Times.  (read more)

Internet Technology , People , Personal Computing September 28, 2003 11:43 AM

Youth at the Gate

At 10 am on July 24 Marcia Stepanek, CIO Insight Executive Editor convened a roundtable on "youth and the future of the workplace" at her office in Manhattan. I was in Singapore and it was 10 pm after a long day but I was delighted to be able to participate. The roundtable participants ranged in age from 21 to 65 but we all had strong opinions about "youth". The CIO Insight story (and transcript) is called Youth at the Gate. In my book, Net Attitude, I wrote quite a bit about the importance of talking to teenagers. They hold many of the clues as to what the Future of the Internet will be like. The kids totally get the Internet and studies have now proven the obvious -- most teenagers in America (and in many parts of the world) use the Internet as their preferred way to communicate. Email is prevalent, of course, but instant messaging and SMS are their modus operandi. There is so much we can learn from kids.  (read more)

People September 26, 2003 07:35 AM

Is Internet Telephony Reliable?

In spite of my enthusiasm for VoIP, I realize that it will take some time for it to become pervasive. Not decades -- but not in the next twelve months either. I was experiencing some sluggish network performance on the home LAN today and decided to re-boot the router. This is something I don't do very often (wish I could say the same for Windows XP). Later I realized that my Packet8 SIP phone service was not working and then it dawned on me that I also had to re-boot the Packet8 "terminal adapter" -- a small box that connects to the home LAN. It wasn't a big deal to unplug and replug the device and get things working again but it got me thinking about some of the things we take for granted with the POTS (plain old telephone system).  (read more)

Internet Technology September 24, 2003 07:16 PM

Long Distance - 2

There is a lot of feedback from readers about the last few stories where I discussed "long distance". Some are saying, "yeah verily", others are saying "not so fast". This is understandable given that we are beginning to go through a very disruptive period with regard to telephony. We are 5% of the way into what is in store for us.  (read more).

Internet Technology September 23, 2003 11:03 PM

Long Distance

Internet Technology September 22, 2003 11:14 PM

Rolling Thunder

This story isn't about WiFi, blogging, or The Future Of The Internet. Although, these are the things I like to write about because of the huge impact they are having on both our business and personal lives, it is also fun to write about music, motorcycles, hiking, and other things. This particular story is a journal about a 700 mile four day motorcycle trip. The journey began at 6:45 am on Sunday with a ride (mostly in the rain) to Pennsylvania to meet up with 26 other riders to take a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory in York, Pennsylvania (pictures here). The second leg of the trip was to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and the final leg was a ride into Manhattan and then on to Connecticut. (read more)

Motorcycles September 18, 2003 10:08 PM

Interim Report

This has been an exciting week so far. It is too late to record it all tonight so I'll be writing more about all this later in the week. The journey began at 6:45 am on Sunday with a motorcycle ride in the rain to Nuangola, Pennsylvania to meet up with 26 other riders and head to Baltimore for the afternoon. We then rode to York, Pennsylvania for the night and then to a tour of the Harley-Davidson factory in the morning. The pictures are here. Tuesday was an adventure I am not in a hurry to repeat -- riding in a torrential rainstorm to Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Tomorrow morning I will ride into Manhattan for a luncheon meeting, a board meeting and then a ride to Darien, Connecticut to speak at BizMac. I have learned a great deal on this trip and will be sharing the full story later.

Motorcycles September 16, 2003 11:53 PM

View From The 49th Floor

The 6:25 AM train ride to Grand Central Station was uneventful, although I have to admit that it was hard not to think about the possibilities on this September 11. A short walk lead to the security desk at JP Morgan Chase on Park Avenue. Then a bag check (no temperature was taken as in Singapore) and up to the 49th floor for the Executive Breakfast of the New York New Media Association (NYNMA). There were seventy-five or so in attendance. After my fifteen minute presentation on "The Future Of The Internet", I introduced Chris Forbes who is CEO of Knovel Corporation (where I am a director). Chris gave an excellent presentation on how Knovel, as an information service provider, is leveraging the productivity of engineers and applied scientists. We then had a Q&A session -- and the audience was not shy.  (read more)

Hiking , Internet Technology , Travels September 14, 2003 04:23 PM

Where Were You When...?

Most of us remember vividly where we were on September 11, 2001. In my case, I was in Danbury, Connecticut in the board room at Bristol Technology meeting with their CEO, Keith Blackwell. Remember where you were when you first heard that President Kennedy was assassinated? (or Jerry Garcia died if you are too young to remember JFK). Most of us remember major events and exactly where we were at the time -- even if it was decades before. Things like that you just don't forget. But do you remember exactly where you were? I mean the exact latitude and longitude. I didn't remember the JFK location either; that is until I went back to Lehigh University for my 30th reunion with my handheld GPS receiver and captured the precise coordinates. A nearby building had been torn down and a new one constructed but dead reckoning got me to the right spot. This might have seemed strange in 1995 when I wrote the first version of this story.  (read more)

Travels September 11, 2003 10:24 PM

Stamps On Demand

I often correspond with my former IBM colleagues by email and instant messaging, but today I made a visit in person to the Somers, New York facility. It was a beautiful day with puffy white clouds and blue sky -- I couldn't ask for better motorcycling conditions. The subject of the two meetings was on demand. This is such an exciting concept, and I believe that it represents the beginning of the next major wave of opportunity in the networked world. I expressed my thoughts about this in a prior posting but will be writing much more about it over time. I took the long way home and passed through some New York communities I had not taken notice of before including Amawalk, Granite Springs, and Lincolnville (could not find a link). After I got home, I had an interaction with stamps.com which was anything but on demand.  (read more)

e-Business September 9, 2003 10:37 PM

U.S. Open

THe weather was nearly perfect at the U.S. Open but it was necessary to apply a good dose of homosalate and methoxycinnamate to provide protection against the ultraviolet A (UVA) and B (UVB) sun rays. I don't know much about tennis but being in Flushing, New York at the USTA National Tennis Center watching Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero was an incredible experience. The skill and stamina of these two young men was awesome. I am unqualified to comment on the key factors in the game results, but it appeared to me that the twenty-three aces by Andy Roddick had to be key. His serves came across the net like missiles -- some exceeding 140 mph. The IBM Radar Gun recorded the speed of every serve and instantaneously fed the result to a digital display. Radar heads were positioned at each end of the court, facing down the center line. As the server prepared to hit, the radar was activated and then picked up the ball about three feet beyond the server's racquet, where it travels fastest. The data then went to an IBM ThinkPad that calculated the speed, and sent the result to the digital display on court. This was just one small part of a wide range of technology which IBM utilized behind the scenes

Travels September 8, 2003 10:42 AM

Presentations Calendar Updated

Presentations calendar for fourth quarter updated.

Travels September 8, 2003 09:35 AM

Calling Joi

My friend and colleague Joichi Ito and I had been chatting sporadically over a several week period via instant messaging. One day we decided we should talk via voice and I gave him a call that evening around 9 PM. The monthly invoice from SNET/SBC just arrived. The call to Joi was 27 minutes and the cost was $34.02. That computes to $1.26 per minute. I didn't think to use Net2Phone. A few days later I called a colleague in Singapore, but this time I used my Net2Phone account. It was a short call but, even so, the cost was only fourteen cents This encouraged me to check on what the rates to Japan would be. Using Net2Phone to call Japan costs $.059 per minute if calling a land line or $.29 to call a cell phone. The SNET/SBC charge was 23 to 43 times higher. We are not talking about 23 to 43% higher, we are talking about 23 to 43 times higher. It costs no more to visit a web site in Japan than one in New York. Why should it cost 20+ times more to make a phone call to Japan than to New York? It shouldn't -- and that is why the telecommunications industry still has some challenging days ahead. (read more)

Internet Technology September 6, 2003 11:35 AM

Technical Upate

Blogging September 3, 2003 03:10 PM

Astro Blogging

Blogging isn't just for kids or IBM e-tirees. Now there are astro bloggers! The two Mars Exploration Rover mission spacecraft each have a LEGO mini-figure suited up for space, virtualized onto DVD's, and attached to the spacecraft. The DVD's also contain the names of four million people who signed up to be part of the mission. To make the mini-figures more lifelike, the Planetary Society has created an Astrobot Corps. Two "astrobots" -- Biff Starling and Sandy Moondust -- are blogging to the world about the mission. Blogging from outer space is just one of the many interesting things going on with regard to Mars. The Planetary Society and NASA along with the LEGO Company have teamed together to establish "Mars Stations" to enable anyone with Internet access to "drive" through a martian-like world through the eyes of a robotic rover.  (read more)

Blogging September 3, 2003 10:01 AM

Recent Books

This summer has been a busy one with many projects and activities so the book list didn't get much longer. Here are two recent reads.

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Favorites September 1, 2003 10:45 AM