How to Empty Your Inbox

I got a call from Claire Suddath at Bloomberg Businessweek a few weeks ago. She told me about their upcoming second annual “How To” special issue.  We talked quite a bit about the history of email and various approaches to manage it. By necessity, the story had to be edited down quite a bit to fit the available space. (The nice thing about the Web is that space is unlimited. See my original story that caught Claire’s eye below).  My little story is called “How to Empty Your Inbox” and it appears here.  The “How To” special issue includes 55 stories from “CEOs, tech visionaries, U.S. senators, an NFL referee, an artist, and, for good measure, an 11-year-old and a 106-year-old”.  The guest contributors shared a lot of interesting perspectives, and Businessweek did a nice job pulling it all together. The stories can be found here.  

Since I wrote the story last December, I have become more and more dependent on Boomerang.  Whenever I send anyone an email to which I hope for a reply, I click the check box  to have Boomerang send the email back to me if I don’t get a reply to it in X hours or days or weeks, depending on the timeliness needed. Whenever I receive board materials to read, I boomerang them back to me the night before the meeting or the morning of a train or plane ride to the meeting. When an email arrives that I really want to read but don’t have time to at the moment, I boomerang it back to me when I think I will have time. I have numerous periodic emails that I send to myself but where I click the “Send Later” button and have Boomerang send it to me on a specific date or once a month, quarterly, or annually. Boomerang is more than an email manager — it helps you manage your tasks and workflow. 

Original story about Boomerang as published on patrickWeb on December 3, 2011

I wish I had a dollar for every task management application I have used over the last few decades. There are many good ones, but the task manager that consistently works for me–and that I always end up relying on the most–is email. It is not true for everyone, but for me, an email in the inbox is a call to action. If there are more than a handfull of emails in my inbox, I do not feel I am in control of my life. When I have answered an email or taken some action based on that email and I then delete the email, I feel I have accomplished something. When the inbox is empty I feel very good — I have things under control. The problem is that on many days, getting to an empty state for the inbox is just not in the cards. Enter Boomerang!

Boomerang for Gmail is a browser plugin (for Firefox or Chrome) that I have found to be a great productivity tool. It is not a task manager, per se, but it greatly enhances my ability to get to the empty inbox state. If I receive an email invitation to attend an event and the RSVP date is two weeks from now and I don’t have time at the moment to consider it — Boomerang! I click the boomerang button and select “return to my inbox in 4 days”. You can click on choices such as in an hour, four hours, tomorrow morning, tomorrow afternoon, in a week, in a month, or at 3PM on March 14, 2013. A couple of clicks and the email is out of your inbox — but it will be back at a time when you are ready to deal with it. You can also send yourself an email and click the boomerang button to have it sent to you every Saturrning as a reminder to put out the trash. I have one email that comes to my inbox on the first of every month to remind me to update a Google Doc that I maintain as a log with my business use car mileage. Another one on the 15th of the month reminds me to update my steps database from my pedometer. If I am really busy when one of those mails arrives, no problem, just click the boomerang button and have it come back to you in a day or two or next week.

Boomerang also helps with workflow. For example, I may  read the news on the iPad with Pulp and see a story that I think would be of interest to others.  I hit the share button in Pulp and it sends me an email with the story link. I see the email later but I am not ready to write a story just yet — Boomerang! A couple of clicks and the email comes back to me Saturday morning. Another very powerful feature helps with follow-up. You can send someone an email requesting something and select a boomerang option to have the email return to you in four days if there has not been a reply to your email. A few clicks and you get a follow-up system. Boomerange also works with the iPad and iPhone. Maybe something better will come along, but for now, Boomerang for Gmail is helping me organize things the way I want and allowing me to stay on top of things and keep a feeling of being in control.  If you overuse it and everything gets boomeranged and nothing ever gets done, well then you have other problems that technology can’t solve!

Tags: bloomberg, boomerang, businessweek, e-mail, email, inbox, john patrick, productivity, task, task manager

OS/2 Celebrates 25 Years

Harry McCracken’s story (see 25 Years of IBM’s OS/2: The Strange Days and Surprising Afterlife of a Legendary Operating System) about OS/2 brought back a lot of memories. Seeing my picture in PC World magazine made me feel old — who is that young man? Bill Gates and I were both wearing purple shirts, but that was the only thing we had in common. OS/2 was a great product, but it failed in the end for many reasons that Harry described. From my perspective, the main thing that could have upped the odds for OS/2 would have been if we had tightly integrated the IBM hardware, software, and services that IBM had at the time. Unfortunately, there was a feeling of independence in the various divisions of the company; the PC Company, the Personal Sofware Products Division of which I was the vice president for marketing, the IBM Global Network, the amazing National Service Division of which I earlier was vice president for service business, the various industry vertical and marketing organizations of IBM, and the financial resources to put it all together.

But, we did not put it all together. The Apple iPad and Mac are successful because Apple put it all together so that “it just works”. IBM had a similar potential with OS/2. Three researchers developed a Web browser called the Web Explorer. It was the best Web browser at the time. The ThinkPad had just been introduced a year earlier. IBM was the only vendor that could offer a PC with an operating system, a suite of Internet tools for surfing, email, and news reading, plus the IBM Global Network — all bundled on a ThinkPad. That was 1994 and IBM had it all and no other vendor was even close. Unfortunately, IBM, at the time, wanted each division to stand on its own. The PC division believed they could sell more PCs if they put Windows on them instead of OS/2. The OS/2 team wanted to make their software work with all the industry software, but the Lotus division wanted just their products on the PC. The industry vertical groups wanted to sell whatever kind of PC the customer wanted, IBM or others. The service division wanted to service any brand and give-up the exclusivity of great IBM service. While Apple had one brand, IBM had multiple brands, each with its own advertising agency, that did not leverage the strength of one of the greatest brands of all times — IBM.  When Lou Gerstner took control, the company came back together again, but unfortunately, it was too late for OS/2. If you like technology history, read Harry’s story. He did a great job in pulling it together. In my basement, I have a collection of OS/2 hats on the wall. My grandchildren ask me, “Pop-pop, what is OS/2?”

Tags: IBM, IBM Global Network, IGN, internet, john patrick, os/2, ThinkPad, Web Explorer

Speech at SIIA

It was a privilege to be a speaker at the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) conference in New York on January 25. The subject of the speech was The Future of the Internet but I included an emphasis on impact to healthcare and publishing. The conference was attended by executives from the publishing and software industries. I do not know why the video was captured in five segments, but until I get a consolidated version, the links are below. The slides were on my iPad and the video doesn’t show the screen the audience was looking at. If you want to see the slides, they are here.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5

Tags: future, health, Healthcare, hospital, internet, john patrick, medicine, music, publisher, siia, technology

Genesys XVIII

The 18th Annual Genesys Partners Venture Dinner — Gen XVIII– Monday night at the Union League Club in New York attracted more than 100 venture capitalists, investors, journalists, entrepreneurs, and industry executives. As always, Jim Kollegger — CEO of Genesys Partners and one of the pioneers of the information industry — was an elegant master of ceremonies. He introduced the various sponsors, next day panelists for the SIIA Conference, several startup CEO’s, and a few of us who have been around the block a few times, each to make some comments.

Like a broken record, I offered the normal upbeat view of the future of the Internet but prefaced my remarks by asserting that we are only 10% of the way there. In other words, of all the things that could be done on the Internet that would save us time and make our lives better, only 10% of them are there. It may sound low but consider retail e-commerce. Although there has been continuous and steady growth of retail e-commerce it still represents just 4% of total retail (as of the end of October). Why isn’t it 25% or more? Much is written about that here at patrickWeb but the short version is that there are still a lot of lame web sites. “Click here for the location of our nearest dealer where you can visit” or “call to buy the product you just found” or “Click here to download this form and fax it to us”. And of course there are the ubiquitous clipboards at doctor offices where we take a pen and provide a lot of information information that they already have.

I described one man’s view of the evolution of the Internet including the seven characteristics below. This parsed way of looking at the Internet has served me well for quite a few years. The things going on under each area continuously change and Jim asks me once a year to do a thumbnail sketch of my latest thinking.

Fast
Broadband in the U.S. is not a pretty story compared to other parts of the world. We are second after China in number of broadband users, but 28th in the world in number of broadband users as a percentage of our population. The problem is that there are too many lobbyists and the FCC is a political organization. The new FCC head is a very smart guy with venture and business experience. He totally gets it. The only problem is that AT&T, Comcast, and Verizon have more lawyers than he does. Meanwhile France is offering 100 megabit access for $90 per month and WiFi throughout the country. Thanks to the telco lobby, many states have banned the offering of WiFi by municipal entities. Every citizen in Greenland has Internet access. We have 31,000 post offices.

Always On

WiFi is part of the fabric of the world. The big shift is streaming of data — not just tweets, but data from *things*. Bridges, toll booths, traffic lights, buildings, cars, and health monitoring devices attached to people. Hospital physicians will soon be adjusting the drip rate on infusion pumps in the hospital from their office based on real-time data from the patient. The WiFi infusion pumps enable hospital administrators to know where the pumps are (they never have enough of them) and which ones need maintenance. The creation of data is staggering. Of all the data in the world, 90% of it was created in the last two years. YouTube receives 60 hours of new video every hour. Wikipedia has 4 million articles and 8,000 editors.

Everywhere
There are one billion computers (including tablets), one billion cars, 1.5 billion televisions, and 2 billion Internet users. Small numbers compared to cell phones — 5.2 billion paid subscribers. The Internet used to be where your PC is, now it is where you are.  Most of the cell phones are dumb but soon most of them will be smart and they will all have Internet access. The mobile web is unfolding and is taking part in creating data in addition to consuming it through streaming. When you take a picture on your iPhone, it goes into the photostream and from there to iCloud and from there to all of your other devices.  

Natural
Social networking has become fundamental to all aspects of our economy and society. Integration of social networking with a full range of web applications will evolve to become the primary means of collaboration. The emerging issue is that many people are a bit liberal with sharing their every movement — what they are eating, listening to, where they are headed, their current latitude and longitude, and where they slept last night. They are not thinking that some day they may run for office or interview for a job. OpenSocial is an important new standard that will enable social media apps that work across all of the social media sites. The Europeans may legislate it, but regardless, a capability is needed to be able to remove things from the social media.

Intelligent
The Semantic Web is the next big turn of the crank but the crank is moving slowly. Most web pages have links but do not have context. In other words the words on the page do not necessarily mean anything — but they could. If a web page said “Join us for a concert by The Eagles at Kimmel Center in Philadelphia next Tuesday” that set of words could have a lot of context. Clicking on it could add the concert to your calendar, knowing what “next Tuesday” means. It would also know exactly where the Kimmel Center is and that The Eagles is a performing group that performs a particular genre and your music player would receive a list of suggestions of music they have recorded or links to live concerts under way at the moment. This is the tip of the iceberg. The semantic web will lead us to a point where most of the interactions of web pages will be between computers not between computers and people. The biggest growth of intelligence is occurring in the field of analytics. Exabytes of data are being stored. Analytics will enable businesses to make sense of it, model their business and continuously adapt to what is going on. IBM’s Watson took on humans on the Jeopardy Show, but what is more interesting is the ability for a primary care physician to call and get a recomendation based on patient data they describe to Watson. Within a couple of seconds Watson will be able to review all medical information in the world and make a useful suggestion. Business Intelligence and analytics are poised to enable new insight into the mounds of data that are being accumulated.

Easy
Technology isn’t the easiest thing at times. There are many dimensions to “easy” but one good example is the Nintendo Wii. At a local senior center, members find the Wii to be their exercise coach. It is not just for kids! The iPhone and iPad have shown how easy it can be to get applications on a handheld computer. Amazon has done the same with the Kindle. Most companies still don’t get the idea that the Internet is about power to the people. If you can’t make it simple, people won’t buy it. Cloud computing has become the mainstay for me and for millions. The convenience and reliability of the clouds is compelling. Add Dropbox and you have a completely replicated set of data, wherever you are and with whatever device you may be using. How about TV? Three remotes — BlueRay, Cable box, and TV — include 151 buttons. Even a savvy child could not possibly master this impossible user interface. Boxee TV has produced a good model of the future of TV, but I suspect that an upcoming Apple TV will be what finally provides the needed regime change.

Trusted
This is the big one. Will we trust the Internet? Security technology is available to achieve much higher levels of security than presently deployed both at enterprise and consumer levels. It is a constant battle and requires significant budgets and a lot of talented people to maintain the needed security. The bigger issue will be privacy. (Stay tuned for the Firefox “do not track” feature). Banks have our personal information and they are using it. Healthcare insurers have more information about our health than our doctors do. Nevertheless, there is much to be optimistic about when it comes to electronic medical records. Perhaps 25% of doctors and hospitals use them but they are not easily interchangeable and accessible. This will change over the next few years as the government adds dollar incentives to make it happen. The result will be better quality of care, better outcomes, and fewer errors. And, fewer clipboards.

On Wednesday I gave a talk about the Future of the Internet and Healthcare at the SIIA Conference. The presentation can be found here.

Other patrickWeb conference related stories

Tags: broadband, fcc, future, health, health care, Healthcare, IBM, internet, ipad, iPhone, jeopardy, john patrick, Mobile, opera, siia, social media, supercomputer, union league, WiFi

Why You Should Embrace Your Company’s Heretics

CNNMoney’s Fortune published a story last week called Why You Should Embrace Your Company’s Heretics. The story was written by Polly LaBarre. I have not talked to Polly for ten years but we did attended a number of the same conferences back then. This new story described my evangelism of the Internet and she said some complimentary things. The story is accurate, but I never thought of myself as a heretic. One fellow board member who read the story sent me a note saying he thought heretics were burned at the stake. Back in 2006, Polly and Bill Taylor, founding editor of Fast Company Magazine, wrote a book called Mavericks at Work where they described 50 “mavericks”. I was one of them, but had not yet been promoted or demoted (not sure which it would be) to “heretic”. I was labeled with the term “rebel” by Gary Hamel in his Waking Up IBM: How a Gang of Unlikely Rebels Transformed Big Blue that appeared in the Harvard Business Review in April 2001. A few months before that, Fast Company magazine published an interview I did with Polly where we talked about technology futures (see Think Ahead: John Patrick). The only heretic I can think of is ”Homer the Heretic” — an episode of The Simpsons‘, which originally aired in 1992.

Tags: CNNMoney, Fast Company, Fortune, Fortune Magazine, Harvard Business Review, heretic, IBM, john patrick

Ridgefield Men’s Club

The Ridgefield Men’s Club, founded in 1984, is a group of retired or near-retired men from varied careers in business and the professions. Some day, when I grow up, I hope to be a member. At this stage I am neither retired nor near-retired. The waiting list is 3-4 years long, so perhaps when I get to be 70 (and still e-tired), I can become a member. The club states its purpose is to provide and promote fellowship. They offer activities in a dozen or more groups such as bridge, computers, personal finance, fishing, wood carving, and hiking. The Club provides a way for members to maintain old friendships and make new ones, enjoy a cup of coffee on meeting days, hear a good speaker, and plan activities together. Last month, I had the privilege to give a talk about the Internet at a Club meeting, and below is a review that followed in the Club newsletter.

Oracle of the Internet – John Patrick

Our club has been favored over the years by hardworking, talented and well-informed Program Managers who consistently have brought us outstanding speakers. We have had a key representative of the Irish Republic describe, from an inside perspective, the momentous “Good Friday” accords, the forensic archaeologist who just completed a detailed study of Hitler’s demise, the Principle Investigator of NASA’s team of scientists charged with analysis of a comet collision with Jupiter and now the man who’s name is synonymous with ‘Visionary of the Future of the Internet’. He is John Patrick a Ridgefielder and friend of the club. After 38 years at IBM in a range of assignments including VP of Internet Technology, John is currently President of Attitude LLC and a world renowned figure in the field.

John first took us on a tour of his grasp of where the net is now in its potential for further fundamental development. He followed this by a survey of some of its basic characteristics and their likely directions for additional blossoming. In the same inimitable fashion as we have seen him exhibit  before , he then captured the key features of this complex maze in a set of 8 simple words and phrases viz. Fast, Always on, Everywhere, Natural, iPad Heaven, Intelligence, Easy and Trusted. As an awed listener I cannot hope to relate all the fascinating aspects of each as he so glibly rolled on in his relaxed but nevertheless clearly focused talk. I would like to touch on some of the highlights that struck me.

In thinking about all these other aspects of the net it’s important to keep in mind John’s overview of where we are right now. Against the background of the phenomenal growth and penetration into so many aspects of our lives in such a short time, John categorizes the age of internet applications and its scope as entering adolescence! (What will this all come to when it matures?)

Before getting any further into details though, there was an overarching theme that John wove through the whole presentation and that was the main driver he sees on the future highway of Internet development will be … Healthcare. Many of the examples that he used for instance are related to that application. And he did not hesitate to repeat it quite frequently. The importance he associates with the subject is supported by his mention in passing that he himself is studying on-line of course, medical technology.

The role of the classic PC as the prime entryway to the Internet is rapidly coming to its end. The net is now at your fingertips if you so choose. To us old guys, it’s reminiscent of the way Dick Tracy had his concept of the world of information on his wrist in the cartoonist label of “Wrist Radio”

At the conclusion of his fascinating presentation, John graciously encouraged questions from the very attentive audience. Questions ranged over a broad spectrum of aspects including privacy issues, marketing strategies, investment opportunities, etc. Only the exigencies of allocated time brought this session to a conclusion marked by a very warm and prolonged round of applause.

Tags: Internet Technology, john patrick, Ridgefield, Ridgefield Men's Club

DACS.19

On April 5th, the Danbury Area Computer Society held it’s monthly meeting and it was my honor to give a talk about The Future of the Internet. (This was the nineteenth year in a row that I have done this). The meeting was open to the public and took place in the auditorium at Danbury Hospital. Rob Limbaugh wrote a review of the evening that appears below.

DACS General Meeting
April 5, 2011
Meeting Review:
John Patrick ‘Future of the Internet’

By Rob Limbaugh

JOHN PATRICK WAS BACK for his 19th year which coincides with the launch of ThinkPad.

In this time, the Internet has grown to adolescence. Expectations rise every day due to the new things that can be done. It’s still all about the power of the click, but we’re only 10% of the way there because so many sites are still ”lame”. For example, you search for a part for your old refrigerator. You finally locate the part, click to buy, but when you enter the zip code, you find it’s not available and you are redirected to a dealer that may or may not have a website or even be in business.

The internet is squeezing out the ‘old’ with new ways to connect people to things or information. It took Steve Jobs to figure out how to make money in the digital music industry. Digital book publishing has not learned from those lessons. Printed material has become a failing business model because people in that business don’t like to spend money. Hollywood chose a defensive approach to digital movie media and is now being picked away by digital media distribution companies that have embraced new delivery methods.

Retail sales last year were $4 trillion. Of that, 3.9% were e-commerce ($165 billion). 21% of that was solely Amazon. A merger of healthcare and the Internet is underway. The healthcare industry is about 30 years behind manufacturing in adopting digital methodology. The latest strides are led by the realization that healthcare is about patient data. Eventually healthcare IT will be bigger than all of IT as we know it today.

Here’s an example of how things are changing. The illegible prescriptions we are all used to are a thing of the past. A digital e-prescription is sent directly from your doctor to the pharmacy, where it will be ready for pickup when you arrive. Along the way it is compared with your other prescriptions and assessed for possible reactions or concerns. If any are found, the system alerts both your doctor and pharmacist.

The ”Patient Centered Medical Home” is an up-and-coming term based on the philosophy that medical practitioners work with you. Efforts in healthcare reform and  Health Information Exchanges are building blocks that are thrusting these changes forward. Monitoring sensor devices are becoming smaller and smaller and wireless which ushers in the ability to have a home monitoring system that can send an alert if your blood pressure or other critical statistics are out of range. Tools like the iPad are helping to bridge the communication gap between doctor and patient. There are now specialized apps that enable the doctor and patient to view anatomical illustrations  to help the doctor explain a diagnosis and treatment.

John reports that the US Government has generally been a progressive factor for the Internet. So far Congress and the FCC have resisted the temptation to regulate the Internet. A good example of government innovative is the e-file system to electronically file your income tax return. The Obama administration is the first time there has been a Chief Information Officer in the White House. For another innovation, take a look at data.gov to see how much data has been released to the public. There are even tools to search the Meta data to help find the data you need.

Today our schools and libraries are in a renaissance. Libraries are expanding to add programs, and  computers rather than just books. Libraries have become a new resource center for people out of work. Lifelong learning and homeschooling are being used via the Internet. Adults and seniors can take courses online. Unfortunately, not everything is rosy. Digital speeds in the U.S., particularly in homes, is lagging behind much of the world because we do not have enough competition. John defines Net Neutrality as providing equal access to all Internet resources no matter who is providing the connection . Exclusivity contracts between content sources and the carriers threaten Net Neutrality by restricting access to content or services based upon the Internet service provider being used. An example would be if you could access content from Disney only through a Comcast connection. This is a bad idea, and John calls it the ‘Balkanization of the Internet’. TV is changing. Instead of watching shows when they are broadcast on some particular channel, you can watch them when you want to watch them.

The connected home and appliances promise a future where the repairman shows up to replace a worn part of your refrigerator because the refrigerator sent an alert to the manufacturer reporting the problem. John showed examples of how thermostats for our furnace and air conditioning have become smarter. The more sophisticated units can automatically adjust heating and cooling based on the season and your work schedule. Soon you will be able to control your heating and cooling while you are away from home so your house will be just right when you arrive home. The cloud is becoming the always-connected solution to portable storage and access to applications. The “new” tablet form factor does not replace other computers (yet) but does provide a means to do many things that do not require the full power of a computer. It’s an ‘intelligent window’ to web content. Phones and tablets with cameras are bridging distances between people with video chat.

Data security, privacy, and integrity constantly present new challenges as threats change. Overall security is good,  but the bar always has to be raised. Privacy is a larger issue because young people “over share” on social sites which are now used by employers to determine the character of a potential employee. Young people often do not understand the differences between ‘personal’, ‘private’, and ‘public’.

In closing, John’s advice for businesses is to ‘think outside in’ and be sure to ‘think big, act bold, start simple, iterate fast’.
Everyone can keep up with John via his website and blog at www.patrickweb.com. Also take a look at his newest endeavor, the Health Discussions Forum at www.healthdiscussions.net.

Tags: dacs, Healthcare, ipad, john patrick

Linkedin

I remember being a bit skeptical when LinkedIn first got started. Although I cannot say that I have personally benefited from being a member, I have found it a pleasure to help others by linking them to someone that I know. The concept is a good one: linking people together and enabling linkees to find one another. If you are friends with a few hundred people, then the friends of the friends of the friends of the friends of those friends likely adds up to millions oe people. The beneficiaries would be those who are looking for a job, looking to hire someone, forming a collaborative network, putting a deal together, or just getting in touch. These are all good things. Many people use LinkedIn as a place to put their profile. Mine is at http://www.linkedin.com/in/jrpatrick (I am not looking for a job), but if someone is really intersted in finding out who you are then a profile at wikipedia can be more comprehensive. My wikipedia entry is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_R._Patrick.

The question about LinkedIn is how will it make a profit? So far, job ads are Linkedin’s biggest source of revenue. The basic membership is free but the premium services are quite expensive, like $30 to $75 per month. That is a lot to pay to be able to find someone and send them an email. Perhaps businesses find it cost justified. I hope so. LinkedIn is prudently seeking all the revenue streams it can find: general advertising, job ads, employment services, and premium memberships. Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, has had a strong and consistent vision about linking people together. The company is seeking to go public to raise funds for expansion and I wish them the best. Their email to early subscribers was a nice touch.

I want to personally thank you because you were one of LinkedIn’s first million members (member number 371,197 in fact!). In any technology adoption lifecycle, there are the early adopters, those who help lead the way. That was you. We hit a big milestone at LinkedIn this week when our 100 millionth member joined the site. When we founded LinkedIn, our vision was to help the world’s professionals be more successful and productive. Today, with your help, LinkedIn is changing the lives of millions of members by helping them connect with others, find jobs, get insights, start a business, and much more. We are grateful for your support and look forward to helping you accomplish much more in the years to come. I hope that you are having a great year.

Sincerely,

	Reid Hoffman Co-founder and Chairman LinkedIn

Tags: john patrick, linkedin, wikipedia

Back to DACS – 2011

On April 5th, the Danbury Area Computer Society will hold it’s monthly meeting and it will be my honor to give a talk (at 7:45PM) about The Future of the Internet. (This will be the nineteenth year in a row that I have done this). The meeting will be open to the public and will take place in the auditorium at Danbury Hospital. The talk will be an update on how the next generation of the Internet is unfolding and how it will affect our personal and professional lives. I will discuss recent developments that are fueling the rapid evolution of the Internet and enabling nearly two billion people to experience a Net that is fast, always on, everywhere, natural, intelligent, easy, and trusted. The potential for information technology to improve healthcare will also be discussed. There is a Program Preview by Richard DiFranco on the DACS homepage. I will also be discussing the new iPad 2.

Tags: dacs, Healthcare, ipad, john patrick

patrickWeb Store – Books John has read

I have been experimenting with the Amazon aStore and decided to add books that I have read. After I complete a book, I will add it to the patrickWeb aStore so to make it easy for followers of my blog to buy books I have enjoyed, if they choose to. The first book I will add is Bill Bryson’s At Home. Like all Bryson books, it is extraordinary. Bryson takes you on a tour of his home in England room by room–living room, dining room, basement, kitchen, etc. and in each room he delves deeply into the history of things. For example, reading the dining room chapter you end up learning about the history of food, cooking, servants, and many other things in incredible detail just like all his books. I can highly recommend this latest one. Feel free to visit the patrickWeb aStore and take a look. Feedback welcome.

Tags: amazon, astore, book, books, bryson, john patrick