Video clips on change, innovation, the future, trends

I've put up a variety of new video clips from various keynotes
-- Macromedia flash version
Or watch some of the newest video clips
-- "What I Learned From Frogs in Texas"
-- "Things from the olden days"
-- "Coping with ketchup: thoughts on innovation"

There's also this link on some of my recent predictions on trends.

Helping kids remember...

I'm off to do my keynote for the US Department of Defense tomorrow. I just found this little clip -- my Dad just before he died, with a short news story about a program in which he participated in as a Veteran. The aim was to spend time with young children, ensuring they remember what WWII was all about. [ Quicktime video ]

Feedback from my recent keynote for SAP America

From the VP of Marketing

SAP could not have been happier with Jim Carroll's performance at our two recent events, the SAP Business Forums held in Toronto and Chicago.

When we saw the passion and excitement that he brought to the audience in Toronto, we simply knew that we needed to change our plans and have him at our next event.

In Chicago, the home run that he hit was even bigger.

I can think of no greater keynote speaker presentation through which I've sat, and I am confident that we will be looking to use him again at future conferences.

The thought leadership and action provoking sentiments that he evokes are truly remarkable.

Without question, his insights are what many companies need as numerous organizations begin their climb out of some of the troubling days of late and into the revitalized times ahead.

My weblog is one year old today

Check the calendar over on the right, and have a peek at Oct/26/02

Thoughts on risk

In Forbes: "Half the failures in life arise from pulling in one's horse as he is leaping"

SAP keynote online

The full keynote from a few weeks back, in which I address the challenge of innovation; how too many organizations are stuck in a rut; how "smart frogs" are pursuing a variety of business strategies -- and more. You can now watch the entire keynote here.

Election fraud in the future

I've just caught on to this story, which seems to have been going on for a while, in which it is alleged that the company that makes a significant number of US computerized voting machines have significant security risks. A group of people are fighting to ensure that the story stays out there, regardless of the legal threats.

Imagine a not too distant future -- if you don't like the potential winner, hire a hacker to change the results. Reading these documents make this unlikely scenario all too real.

"That's from the olden days, daddy!"

I've started writing a bi-weekly column for the online newsletter of an association of "association executives." My first column -- "10 Things My Kids Think Are From the Olden Days" -- a reflection on the rate of change. Read it here .

Department of Defense keynote

Next week, I'll provide the opening keynote for the US Department of Defense DoD Maintenance Symposium & Exhibition, being held in
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, hosted by the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Logisitcs and Material Readiness.) These are the folks who contribute and manage effective DoD maintenance operations; build and manage one of the most sophsiticated supply chains in the world; and who played a significant role in Iraq. In the face of great challenge, they've done a tremendous job -- but it is always a challenge to continue to improve. They are being swept by new initiatives involving logistics and maintenance management -- and hence are faced with a need for dramatic transformation. I'll focus on the issues of change, innovation and mindset in a motivational keynote that will kick-off this conference, attended by 600+ representatives from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

Apple's sense of humor

Apple announced iTunes for Windows today (everyone knows that) but you might not have seen what they did with their home page. [ bigger image ]

A reference to the fact that many music industry executives, blinded to the demands of their customers, never thought they'd see legal downloading sites go mainstream, and that they'd always sell CD's in plastic for $20+?

Apple innovates. The music industry is innovating a bit, but still not much. Hat's off to Apple!

A keynote for the American Federation of Teachers

I'll be keynoting the semi-annual American Federation of Teachers technology conference in Washington on Friday, December 5th in Washington. The theme of the conference is "Leaders: Energize to Organize & Mobilize--Let IT Empower YOU!" My keynote will focus on unionism in the digital age -- how can unions empower themselves, reach out to the grass roots, mobilize members and the public -- in effecting how to transform a union into a real-time, collaborative organization of the future!

Nomadic workers....

It's Small Business Week. Here's an interesting stat spotted in the New Zealand Herald-Tribune today:

"A recent survey undertaken by Home Business New Zealand, in association with Unitec's Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, found 15 per cent of respondents were engaged in exporting to some degree, 5 per cent indicated over 90 per cent of their revenue came from outside New Zealand, and another 7 per cent said up to 30 per cent of their business was international."

The lengths they'll go to.....

Spammers and net-con-artists try to get more sophisticated all the time. I received this message today

:

From: "Richard Glicksman"
Date: Wed, 15, Oct 2003 09:06:44 -0700
To: jcarroll@jimcarroll.com
Subject: Information Request
MIME-Version: 1.0
Hello,

I have a significant number of clients, some of who are looking for a motivational speaker online. My job is to direct these folds to a single web site that is relevant. Your site looks like it may fit the mold.

If you can help us, then please contact me. Thank you in advance. I can be reached at the number below.

Best Regards,
Richard Glicksman
714-639-2863 ext 243

Seems like a normal message, but my smell-test went off -- it doesn't seem quite right. And a simple search of the phone number on Google reveals all:

From: "Holly Smith"
To: cygwin at sources dot redhat dot com
Date: Wed, 27, Aug 2003 09:49:48 -0700
Subject: Information Request
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello,

I have a significant number of clients who are searching online for Boat Covers. I am looking to find for my clients a single source online for this information.
If you can help my clients, then please contact me by phone. I can be reached at the number below.

Best Regards,
Holly Smith
714-639-2863 ext 228
www.netdirectwords.com

So I wrote back to my 'pal Richard:

To: "Richard Glicksman"
Subject: Re: Information Request
Reply-to: jcarroll@jimcarroll.com
MIME-Version: 1.0
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2003 12:17:56 -0400

Gee, Richard, it seems you folks also have a lot of people looking for boat covers online.

If you are going to spam people, you might at least try to change your phone number so we can't so easily see through your requests...

Cheers!
jc

p.s. Give my regards to Holly!

NetDirect is just one of those firms playing up an Internet keyword scam. They're slime, and you would do well to steer clear of them.

-----

Update Feb. 15th. Richard wrote me an e-mail to complain:

Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 16:13:01 -0800 (PST)
From: Richard Glicksman
Subject: My name in your website
To: jcarroll@jimcarroll.com

--0-356962931-1072224781=:98973
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Jim,

http://www.jacc.com/weblog/archives/000499.html

On October 15th, 2003 you published an e-mail that I sent you that you will find in the above link. Our company is listed in good standing with the Better Business Bureau. You should try researching before blatently accusing a firm of trying to rip you off.

"A simple phone number search on Google reveals all." All of the nay-sayers and unreliable sources, that is. Who are you going to believe? Them, or the Better Business Bureau?

Regards,

Richard Glicksman

This guy just keeps getting funnier and funnier!

Another broken music service

Much fanfare announcing Puretracks today, a Canadian service that offers tunes for sale. I won't sign up. Why? You can only listen to tunes through Windows Media Player, which of course would render my TurtleBeach Audiotron or any other Ethrenet based jukebox device irrelevant. Plus, it only supports Windows -- I've a bunch of Linux systems too......It also seems that I can only play a purchased tune on the computer that I downloaded it to -- does that render the fact that my Mp3's are stored on servers in my basement irrelevant, i.e. I can't store tunes there? And there are 17 PC's in my home -- I can't listen to it anywhere else? My sons can't listen to a song that I bought on another computer?

Bottom line: I won't buy any online music that features digital rights management and such onerous restrictions. I'm not a thief, but I don't want the music industry to automatically treat me like one. Give me unlimited digital downloading of Mp3's at $20 or $30 a month, and I'm there. Until then, I buy Cd's, rip 'em, and put them on my music servers...

Another keynote for SAP -- next week in Chicago

I received an e-mail from SAP this morning: "...thank you very much for the excellent presentation that you delivered for us last week at the SAP Business Forum in Toronto. I heard tremendous compliments from many of those in attendance, SAP Canada employees and customer/prospect participants alike. You really helped make the day a memorable experience for all who came, and for that, we are truly appreciative." And with that, the fellow proceeded to ask if I might be able to keynote their next Business Forum meeting -- in Chicago next week. (The answer was yes)

Smart frogs ....

Today is my keynote at the SAP Business forum ... with the key message being that it is the "smart frogs" who are continuing to streamline and re-engineer their internal and external processes using the 'Net. These organizations, who are the true success stories of the 21st century, have realized that what has come together in the last decade are a wide variety of technologies and systems that permit rapid advances in business strategy. I'll outline tons of examples of smart frogs.

The SAP event today is but one of many such events I've done Read on.

For example, Coles Myer (Australia) is investing $650 million in its supply chain through the next five years, which includes $351 million capital spending, and $315 million in systems and software; they'll consolidate some 600 applications and 4,500 interfaces. All this to improve the efficiency of the manner by which they do transactions with their suppliers.

I'll talk about Southwire - a building wire and utility cable provider - which has a customized customer portal that includes pricing, ordering, delivery/order status and online orders -- which is now seeing online transactions totalling $200 million, up from $14 million in 2000. They're business re-engineering their customer relationship, to obvious advantage.

I'll also talk about AVIS, which in an innovative self-service move, allows you to look up details of your rental contract transaction online -- such that they now see that while it costs $7 for a typical call center call, or $2.25 when the Internet is used with human intervention to provide this information -- it costs but $0.50 through this online automated self-service.

And I'll talk about Malee Sampran Plc of Thailand, a food grower / processor which is using handhelds, GIS and GPS to track farm produce. The information feeds into their "FoodTrace" and "ShipTrace" systems, and their business strategies for the use of this technology includes yield management and supply chain management.

Smart frogs are busy exploitiing the opportunity in front of them. Dumb frogs still think that it is the year 2000, and that the dot.com collapse has meant that the Internet was just a joke.

Back in 1999, I wrote in one of my books the following, which is a point that many should ponder today:

Even as a media circus claims the public’s attention over the crash of high-flying Internet stocks, smart business executives will continue to embrace the Internet, and will integrate it into everything they do. After all, they will recognize the real opportunities and challenges of the Internet such as we have described in this book.

Over time, the Internet will insinuate itself into every industry, and will become a core part of the way in which a company does business.

What will differentiate the successful from the unsuccessful organization? The former will be those who clearly and unequivocally outline how they hope to use the technology, business practices, and opportunity of the Internet to help in the achievement of the business objectives of the organization in the short, medium and longer term

Right on. Squish.

Traditional offices -- Boring as sin!

I'm quoted in the Edmonton Journal today in an article about an innovative, new, cooperative office space. No link to the full article yet, but I'm working on it.

Jim Carroll, a futurist, agrees that workplace co-operatives like Digital North are a trend likely to continue. "Young people in particular don't want to work in the big, standard, cubicle-based world. They had their taste of cool office spaces during the dot-com years and they don't want to go back."

While executive suites, mobile offices and rent-an-office have been around for years, they are "boring as sin," says Carroll. These spaces lack character and the ability to individualize to your needs and tastes.

Of course, my situation is unique, having worked in a home office for 14 years.

See also my 10 Rules for Working at Home.

I'm digitizing my life .....

Well, at least all the photos. For the last two weeks, I've scanned about 2,000 old photos using an HP photoscanner. These photos are added to the 7,000 digital photos I've taken since 1997. They're played in a slide show in a computer in the kitchen and elswhere. It completely changes your perception of memory -- making the past much more accessible. Now I'm looking for a device that will pump them out to various television screens in the home.

Go to a bar -- and be tracked!

Vancouver Sun article: "Vancouver bar patrons will soon have to produce identification and have their photograph taken every time they enter clubs or bars connected to an electronic network designed to red-flag troublemakers. Within the next six months, about 35 bars and clubs in Vancouver are expected to be hooked into the Barwatch system." Geesh! Is there no privacy left?

Unreal ... another digital camera advancement

A company has come out with 4.8 gigabyte compact flash cards --- which you can use in a digital camera. My math tells me that if I used this in my Canon G2, doing hi-resolution photos, I could keep about 2,000 to 2,400 pictures on one card!

Ten years of change

Ten years ago today, I was approached by a major publisher, asking if I could write a book about the Internet and the online world. By all means -- I'd already been online for 12 years by that point in 1993. So began the rocket-ride of the 90's, a decade in which I authored/co-authored 34 books, eventually selling 750,000+ copies in 4 countries.

Things move on.

Today, I've concluded in my mind the outline for my newest work, which I will title, "What I Learned From Frogs in Texas." The book will capture my thoughts on issues of change, motivation, innovation, consumer and lifestyle trends, and business strategy issues -- all of the things that I am talking about in many events today. The book will take a look at how a world of constant change is leading to opportunity for those who embrace it, and challenge to those who do not.

Look up!

Went to get the morning paper just now .... and it's a crisp, cool October morning. The stars are awesome -- and so are the satellites. That's why you need to check out Heavens-Above.com -- a web site that lets you know when various satellites, the International Space Station or the Hubble Telescope are floating overhead. You can see them with the naked eye. It's easy enough to use -- just specify where you are, and it will let you know what's going overhead and when -- and where to look.

"The curse of the information age .....

.... is information." Great line from a novel I was reading last night.

I'll keynote the American Federation of Teachers conference

Just in ... I'll keynote their annual I/T conference this December, examining a number of leading edge trends ... in Washington, DC

"We've got to get over the hangover stage."

"Part of Carroll's goal as a consultant is to help corporate America think positively about technology again." From The Know, a publication of Microsoft Business Solutions.

The article goes on to note:

"Customers must be motivated to change. If there is no obvious incentive—such as the ease and/or cost savings of researching and purchasing products online—technology is useless. Carroll gives the example of electronic bill payment, which utility companies have for years been trying to sell to their customers. Some utilities have reported that fewer than 3 percent of customers are paying bills online. The reason is pretty simple: Unlike the airlines, utilities have offered no discounts or other incentives for making purchases online.

Moving forward, Carroll urges companies to realize that size and revenue have no impact on the success of an e-business strategy. "The big money-makers are not the heroes," he says. Before embarking on any plan, Carroll suggests taking some time to look at the latest technologies and their capabilities: mobile applications and Web-based ERP tools in particular have come a long way. Finally, he says, be optimistic about the future: "Get yourself excited again."

"thought leadership discussions"

A press release is up on Canada Newswire about my keynote at the SAP Business Forum '03 next week.

"THIS IS A TREND AND COMPANY TO WATCH"

My Vonage IP phone arrived today. I simply plugged it into my home network -- waited two minutes -- and can now make calls using a regular telephone handset anywhere that travels through the Internet. The quality is excellent -- and I am blown away by how easy it was to set up. THIS IS A TREND AND COMPANY TO WATCH, and it should leave telephone companies running scared.

You can call me at 718-576-1980 -- Normal business hours only! Then think that your call has been routed from your phone, to Vonage .... who then send it to me through the Internet. It comes into my house via my cable modem and into a little box plugged into an ethernet connection beside my desk -- and from there, into a regular, traditional phone.

I'm blown away.

Pictures from Halifax

I grew up in this city, and it is so sad to see what Hurricane Juan has done to the city. Pictures here, here and here. Nova Scotia Power puts the situation into perspective on this Web page.

Still getting more links to photos from people - this large set, and even more. and more!

This set arrived Oct. 4th from a fellow named John Van Gurp. I'll work on getting credits for everyone else as soon as I can.

Joan DeLong sent in this comprehensive set.

This page is now getting heavily trafficked -- and is being linked and mentioned. As a result, if you know of more Halifax picture archives, please let me know.

HP ScanJet 5500c issue appears resolved

And based on this, I'd highly recommend the product to anyone.

Early indications are that the patch HP sent me yesterday for my ScanJet 5500cproblems resolves the issue.

I haven't been terribly diplomatic in the way I approached this issue as you can see by my Weblog postings. On the other hand, I believe that if a product is released, it should work as described. The problem I encountered made the machine somewhat unusable.

Yet this fix -- and it appears to have solved the problem so far though I'll hold my breath -- will make me an enthusiastic, raving supporter of the HP 5500C. If you are considering buying one, and have stumbled across my Weblog entries as a result of your search, my advice is this -- buy this machine. It's good, it works, and there is none other like it. Just make sure you get the right software patch once HP releases it generally.

I currently have 9,000 digital photos on a home server; using the scanner, I'll digitize over 10,000 more. The photos are played throughout the home as a screensaver, and/or slideshow using ThumbsPlus. It makes for a fascinating way to revisit your memory....

Hats off to HP for responding diligently to seeing this through and responding.

But the key thing is, they shouldn't have released this product with this easily identifiable problem in the first place. The industry really needs to pull up its socks.

Easing the digital divide...

I'll be addressing the annual meeting of Computers for Schools Ontario tomorrow. This is an organization that helps to find new life for retired corporate computers within the school system -- a very admirable and laudable project.