Hmmmm ... does this mean something?
On CNN, a brief clip that noted that today marks 666 days since the Enron collapse. Interesting...
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What I learned from frogs in Texas
Notes the Chicago Tribune in an article about the global networked economy, on September 23, in what it refers to as hypercompetition"..... a global market in which an ever increasing portion of the developing world acquires the education and opportunity to provide skilled-labor, including professional services of almost every kind at a world class level....."It is becoming clear that CPAs, management consultants, attorneys and health professionals who have traditionally been insulated from global market forces will be faced with competition as they have never seen before: bright, driven people capable of offering comparable-quality service at perhaps a tenth the cost of their developed world counterparts." Years ago I was predicting that increasingly, the location of where work was performed would become irrelevant as the global networked economy took hold. Global outsourcing trends are now making this true -- in spades.
What's this have to do with frogs? Last week, I watched a number of them getting squished -- they were focused on the birds that were flying in front of them, and didn't notice the cars driving up behind them from the parking lot. Too focused on one perceived threat, they were missing the bigger picture all together......
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
What's next? ... A Keynote at a chamber of commerce event
Today I address the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce. I'm offering up my "10 lessons learned from those who didn't give up" -- outlining how I think some businesses have managed to enhance their competitiveness, open new markets and develop new things, despite the failings of the technology economy over the last few years. I'll publish the list later.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ScanJet 5500c
Update 2/10/03 : HP has fixed the problem -- see my posting on this matter.
I received an e-mail from HP this am that gives me hope they might be able to fix the problem I and other users have reported. If so, this is good news. The thing is, its a good product if this particular issue is ignored, and if this is fixed, it makes a great product. Despite the challenges, I've scanned 1,000 photos already, and the quality is crisp and clear. Add that to the 9,000 digital photos from 1996, and the random slide show in the kitchen is working overtime
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
21st century phone set to arrive....
I'm preparing for my telecom talk this week -- looking at the future of the industry. One of the most significant trends is the move to VoIP (voice over IP). Lots going on -- and one of the most fascinating things is Vonage, a company that provides full telephone service through your DSL or cable-modem connection. They just passed the 50,000 customer milestone. I just got word this AM that they are going to set me up for a trial of their service.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Wow! Feeding stop along the way!
Out in the yard today, hundreds of Monarch butterflies are silently overhead, going southwest on their voyage to Mexico for the winter. Always a sure sign of fall. I snapped this photo in the yard of this little fellow as he came down for an energy boost from a flower. View larger image
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"To empower people in crisis and transition..."
I'm preparing for my keynote on telecom trends later this week; while doing my research, I came across by happenstance the Community Voice Mail initiative. If there was ever a worthwhile hi-tech initiative that counts, this has to be the one -- the objective is to provide free voice mail services to the homeless. Check it out.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
IP to outsell traditional PBX this year
I'm keynoting an event next week for a group of IT executives/CIO's of major companies, in participation with Nortel. While preparing, I came across this stunning statistic -- "2003 will be the year when IP station shipments first exceed traditional private-branch-exchange (PBX) stations. " (Source: In-Stat MDR) In other words, the global telephony network is migrating to an Internet-type backbone quicker than you might think. This bears huge implications for the future, in terms of workspace, the future of the office, the way we communicate, and countless other major trends. It's something I've been talking about for years.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bull in a china shop....
RIAA sues 66-year old computer neophyte in error, withdraws suit
This is like watching an industry self-destruct live, on national TV. Someone get these folks some common sense!
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This week -- Dynamic Meetings in Houston
I'll be the opening keynote speaker, this Friday for this event in Houston which is "an educational experience to empower the professional meeting planner to launch their entire meeting preparation process to the next level." Details at the Dynamic Meetings site. [ site ]
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
HP ScanJet 5500C problems continue
Update 2/10/03 : HP has fixed the problem -- see my posting on this matter. I'm up to 12,000 photos scanned -- this is a great product -- all you need is the new software!!!!
----
Old posting:
No solution in sight. It's interesting how many complaints you can dig up about the product online. If I'm guilty of anything, I suppose, its not doing my homework into the product before purchase.
All I'm asking is for HP to fix a small software problem. Doesn't seem like much to ask. How can they build the digital home of the future, on such a shoddy foundation?
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Pay up -- £0.00 -- now or suffer the consequences
"I have never known this to happen before." So said a banking representative. Looks like events from the 70's as described in my book Surviving the Information Age continue wit us still.
In my book, I outlined how many current baby boomers struggle with change as a result of being exposed to the dark underside of technology through the 70's -- and told many wonderful stories of people receiving horrifically incorrect bills, including many situations involving bills for $0.00. Looks like the past is with us still, as found in this story from the Register.
"WHEN LUTON RESIDENT Alex Hough received a bill for his telephone and Internet services from NTL demanding £0.00, he quite reasonably ignored it.
But when a reminder tipped up saying NTL did not "appear to have received your payment of £0.00 for the above account," he thought he'd better ring them up. He was warned, after all, that he might be "subject to a restoration of service charge" if any of his services were "affected due to late payment".
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Revisit the future by reading from the past...
In his column of September 21, 2003, Dan Gilmour, Technology Columnist for the San Jose Mercury News, made the observation, “Now I know why my refrigerator should be connected to the Internet.”
That's a prediction I made years ago -- read the extract from the book. 
Dan made this comment after returning home from a trip – and finding the rather unpleasant results of a power failure. His comment? His fridge should be Internet equipped so that it could call a repairman!
It seems an opportune time to resurrect an extract from an old book I wrote with my partner years ago – in which we specifically noted that “we believe that we are destined for a future in which the everyday appliances and technologies which surround you are soon to be linked into the Internet, often, through the home network or a wireless Internet connection that is set to invade your home! As this occurs, the devices will emerge with capabilities that are quite unimaginable today.”
Related to this was our prescient prediction that one day your fridge will call your repairman.
As the world emerges from its 90’s tech-hangover, it is a good time to revisit the fact that an era of hyperconnectivity is still set to emerge – one of multiple sensors, multiple devices, linked together in a fascinating new world of hyperconnectivity
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"We've gone from irrational exuberance to irrational pessimism"
"Jim Carroll suggests business owners should pop a few Advils, drink lots of water and get over their dot-com hangover already". -- from " Tech 'guru' says business is gripped by indecision , Sat Sep 20 2003, Winnipeg Free Press
Get over the dot-com hangover
Tech 'guru' says business is gripped by indecision
Sat Sep 20 2003
By Geoff Kirbyson
Jim Carroll suggests business owners should pop a few Advils, drink lots of water and get over their dot-com hangover already.
The man who made his mark in the mid-1990s advising people how to drive their business's profitability through the Internet has changed his tune. Sure, he still thinks there are countless opportunities to be had for firms in the wired world, but corporate cultures that used to breed new ideas like rabbits have gone platonic.
"We've gone from irrational exuberance to irrational pessimism," he said in a recent telephone interview from his home office in Mississauga, Ont. "Everybody went to a party in the '90s, they did a lot of dumb things, they bought stocks that were outrageously overvalued, they drank the dot-com Kool-Aid and after it all came crashing down, they woke up and said, 'Oh my God, what did I do?'."
Carroll is one of eight keynote speakers headlining the bill at the Business Connections Trade Show to be held at the Winnipeg Convention Centre on Sept. 30.
Carroll said far too many senior executives and managers are too focused on cost cutting, or "panic cutting" as he calls it, that people with good ideas within an organization don't dare open their mouths.
"We've reached the stage of aggressive indecision. I'm hearing from marketing and advertising agencies that are making proposals to companies that fit a good strategic purpose and the companies are sitting on (the proposals) for six months, a year or two years," he said. "We need to learn to act aggressively again. We've had an absolute disappearance of the attitude that we can improve our business or discover new opportunities by taking a risk."
Carroll said the corporate equivalent of the deer-caught-in-the-headlights phenomena can't be blamed solely on the dot-com collapse. The ongoing war on terror, the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the accounting scandals of 2002 still resonate in the business world.
But once people have shaken out the cobwebs and cured their hangovers, they should chart a course for innovation once again, he said.
"There's so much we can do not just with technology but with product development and the ways we interact with our customers. A lot of the ideas we talked about in the '90s, they weren't bad ideas, it's just the execution was all wrong and greed took over," he said.
Carol-Ann Borody-Siemens, chair of the trade show, now in its third year, called Carroll a guru in the tech field, citing his prediction of the dot-com downfall during the height of Internet mania in the late '90s.
"He's down to earth and realistic about what the Internet can do (for businesses). He'll tell people they need to make some common-sense decisions how they're going to use the Internet to enhance their business," she said in a recent interview. Borody-Siemens said much of the day's agenda will centre on the pending privacy act that will come into effect next January, legislation she said will affect "every business in Canada."
"It's an act which determines how we deal with private information, what you can legally collect, how to disseminate it, who can look at it and what recourse your clients have if they don't like how their personal material is being handled," she said.
The trade show itself is geared towards the business to business sector, she noted, and will feature booths that touch on topics such as financial tools, marketing information and insurance.
Other speakers include Mark Chipman, president of Megill-Stephenson Company Ltd. but perhaps best known as the majority owner of the American Hockey League's Manitoba Moose, Chuck Loewen, founder and chief strategy officer for Online Business Systems, Lori Mitchell, director of National Learning & Development and Barbara Bowes, president of Bowes Leadership Group Inc. and a Free Press columnist.
geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Innovation in schools" keynote
It's been confirmed that I will be keynoting the Network of Innovative Schools conference in Calgary, AB in October.
My approach to the issue of innovation in education today? In a matter of but a few years, we've got from euphoria to gloom when it comes to innovation in the educational sector.
Consider how quickly things have changed -- in the 1990's, many educators came to see a blossoming in the potential for innovative learning methods, online collaboration and new methods of school and education management. Yet, with the spectacular collapse of the dot.com era, the lingering technology meltdown and general economic uncertainty, it now seems that innovation in the education sector has come to a screeching halt - particularly when it comes to technology. Skeptics who in the past have decried the role of technology in education have found a new resonance to their voice, once again encouraging doubt and sowing seeds of discontent in the minds of many.
That's where my keynote will come in. I believe that teachers need to eawaken themselves for a renaissance of innovation. I believe that educators must bring back the courage to innovate on a day to day basis. In exploring new methods for collaboration as a unique method of dealing with an educational and business world that becomes more complex by the day. Examining methods of providing students with knowledge assessment skills, so they can learn how to cope in the data-swamp in which they are enveloped. A continual examination of leading edge technologies and their role in education, such as Weblogs, wirelesss technologies and personal knowledge archives. Methods of fostering a successful whole-school change program through innovative use of technology and an innovative mindset.
I'll also take a look at how successful educators are removing the background noise lingering from the 90's, and are continuing to charge ahead with exploring the potential for new methods of learning, teaching and managing, in a world in which the future continues to rush at us with dizzying speed......
Should be fun!
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Career planning in the 21st century"
"By understanding what is going to happen in the future, you can prepare yourself to maintain your career — and hence your income — through a period of unprecedented change.” A comment in my book, “Surviving the Information Age." Now, a new career planning workshop. designed for organizations eager to grapple with the complexities of change in the workplace.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Someone just e-mailed me a song and I listened to it. Am I going to jail?"
Someone had a bit of fun at the expense of the RIAA on the phone. Read the whole thing here. Blisteringly funny.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
My upcoming SAP keynote
Details now online at the SAP Business Forum Web site.
My perspective? I'm convinced that a new competitive disconnect is opening up -- one in which companies with an innovative and lets-go-for-it mindset are gaining a significant edge over their aggressively-indecisive compatriots. In my keynote, I'll outline that there are countless real success stories of companies successfully leveraging IT to transform their operations, streamline their processes and establish new market opportunities -- not in some weird retro-90's dot.com way, but with real strategies, real efforts, and real success. It's time that companies wake up to what is going on -- now.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
"Jim's material is powerfully relevant"
Feedback in already on my career planning workshop this past weekend. "Jim really walks his talk! His commitment to preparatory research for our presentation was most impressive. Jim's material is powerfully
relevant, practical and actionable. He engages the audience with humour, sharing of personal experiences and unfailing courtesy and respect for his audience." Helga Iliadis, V.P Customer Care, Rogers Communications Inc.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
This week -- from the interactive future to the meetings of today
I'll be doing a talk tomorrow at Sheridan College on the topic of "Multimedia Pioneering" and entrepreneurialism for a group of post-graduate students in a small, informal get together. Then, at the end of the week, I'll be in San Antonio, Texas, keynoting the Dynamic Meetings conference.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Online health care as a way to cope with looming crisis
I've been suggesting for years that the Internet-connected universe of the future will provide an opportunity for more home-care, helping to alleviate the shortage of critical-care beds that will emerge as the population ages and health-care funds dry up. It's slowly becoming a reality ..... with an announcement by Menem ....
They've just launched "a new service Tuesday that will allow patients with diabetes to send their glucose readings to their doctors online."
That's precisely the thing I've been speaking about at health care conferences and in various articles and books through the last decade, such as "IT and healthcare: more than a marriage of convenience."
The Wall Street Journal noted in an article, "Normally, diabetics visit their doctors every three to six months to have their blood-glucose levels checked. The new tool allows patients to load blood-glucose levels stored on their meters on to a secure server, which is then downloaded by their doctors. While it isn't meant to replace the occasional face-to-face checkup, it would give patients the option of avoiding a routine visit, said Ed Fotsch, chief executive officer of Medem , based in San Francisco."
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
My digital life -- bumps along the way
Update 2/10/03 : HP has fixed the problem -- see my posting on this matter. I'm up to 12,000 photos scanned -- this is a great product -- all you need is the new software!!!!
I've set off on a project to digitize all of the 5,000+ photos I've taken since 1987 .... and bought a new HP ScanJet 5500c to do the job. It has an automatic photo feeder built in and works well ..... but .....
The problem is with the software design. You can stack in a bunch of pictures, and it will auto-feed each one and scan it. This way you can do 30 or 40 photos at a time.
But some software-engineer-bozo wrote the program so that each photo is sent to a temporary file as soon as it is scanned. Do a bunch of pictures, and a bunch of temporary files are created. And then, when the last photo is scanned, those temporary files are then copied into your main photo directory. But Windows inevitably can't handle this and generates a file error -- ""An error occurred saving the images to the chosen file location"" -- so that instead of getting 30 or 40 photos, you get maybe 5 or so. The rest are lost in file-copy heaven somewhere.
Turns out others have had this problem -- as seen on an Amazon.com review: "But the biggest problem I had with the scanner was that when the scanner scans through a stack of pictures, it will scan every picture and once all are scanned, then it sends them to the computer. Frequently, I would scan a stack at 600 dpi, and at 600 dpi it takes a considerable amount of time, the scanning program would mess up in the middle of the transfer, and you'd have to rescan half of the stack." I'm not even scanning at 600dpi, I'm doing 300dpi!
HP has a nice story out about how it is building the base for the digital home of the future. Sure would be nice if they made workable product.
Why can't they write the dang software so that as soon as it is scanned, it is saved in the permanent file?
I'm so frustrated with the product I'm close to returning it.
Why can't companies design and deliver on the promises they make with their product?
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Man in Black. )-;
"Ah, I'd love to wear a rainbow every day,
And tell the world that everything's OK,
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back,
'Till things are brighter, I'm the Man In Black."
A very sad day for all of us. One of Johnny Cash's most touching songs, "A Cowboys Prayer," seems an appropriate tribute.
"Oh, bury me not and his voice failed there
But we took no heed to his dying prayer
In a shallow grave just six by three
We buried him there on the lone prairie."
-- Oh Bury Me Not, sung by Johnny Cash
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Stick to your guns
10 years ago, I spoke at a telecom conference, and suggested that 10 years out, most phone calls would be routed through the technology of the Internet. I was almost hooted out of the room with catcalls for making such a ridiculous assertion ..... now comes news that AT&T will invest $3billion upgrading its system so it's based on ..... the technology of the Internet. It's the last of the three big three to make such an announcement. Lesson learned -- when making predictions, stick to your guns, and don't let derision get to you!
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Making a career from ketchup!
It's getting habit forming, talking about ketchup bottles on stage. Here I am during the start of my keynote for the American Payroll Association Conference. 
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Three years and nine months of worry ... over work!
"Men spend two and a half hours of their free time every day thinking about work .... In a career stretching over 40 years, this adds up to three years and nine months fretting over work." Daily Mail, June 2003. That's one stat I'm using for this weeks career planning workshop I've been putting together -- since it outlines the need for people to take over responsibility for their own career management.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Bank scam commentary on radio
Two banks were victiims of a long-running 'fake web site scam' -- I've done about 10 radio interviews about it this morning. The CBC story is here, BMO's warning here, and a news story about the same type of thing happening with Paypal here. It's a long running scam -- bottom line, never respond to emails that purport to ask you for PIN or other personal information.
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
9/11 - Exhibit 13th
This site remains as one of the most powerful online perspectives. Worth a quiet visit. [ link ]
del.icio.us
Furl
StumbleUpon
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Lessons in brilliant PR strategy
I've got just one observation on this whole RIAA thing, based on these headlines:
- "A 71-year-old grandfather is among more than 250 Americans being sued by the music industry for downloading copyright music from the internet."
- "12-Year-Old Sued for Music Downloading"
Regardless of the merits of the argument from either side, I think that with the new RIAA campaign, we're witnessing what will be one of the classic PR blunders of all time. [ article link 1 ] [ article link 2 ]