w3w3.com

Everyday Edisons & Inventors Digest

742_ Producer of Everyday Edisons and Publisher of the Inventors Digest
At the DaVinci Inventors Showcase, Louis Foreman was a keynote speaker. Louis is the creator of the Emmy® Award winning PBS TV show, Everyday Edisons and serves as the Executive Producer. The show is in its third season and appears nationally on PBS. He is also Producer of Everyday Edisons and Publisher of the Inventors Digest. In July of this year, his first book, The Independent Inventor’s Handbook, was published. In 2008 he was appointed to serve for a three year term on the nine-person Patent Public Advisory Committee of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. Over the past 20 years Louis has created 9 successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. A prolific inventor, he is the inventor of 10 registered US Patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of well over 400 more. Louis discusses ideas and how to figure out the ideas that are worth pursuing. "You have to understand the value of intellectual property and how important it is to not just have an idea but you've got to take that idea and reduce it to practice and figure out how you generate an economic return from that invention. Don't rely on what your friends and family think, develop a picture of who wants this product, figure out and identify your market. Build a spread sheet, figure out costs, these aren't made up figures but realistic estimates. We need data points in order to make a reasonable decision, whether or not it makes sense to pursue it. So we may put all of these numbers together and find that most likely our invention will generate $100K; worst case we may lose $70K, and if Oprah loves it, we can make $400K. Now we can weigh risk and reward..." There's much more... For your convenience: Part 1 of 2; immediately following Part 2 of 2
Related Links: PBS: Everyday Einsteins || Inventors Digest || Edison Nation || Inventors Showcase Photos || DaVinci Institute || Inventor Showcase || Find It || Keywords: Louis Foreman, Everyday Einsteins, Inventors, DaVinci Institute, Entrepreneurs, PBS, DaVinci Inventors Showcase, US Patents, Inventions - Channel: Entrepreneurs
23438313 bytes 11/23/09 LISTEN To Part 1 of 2

22501437 bytes 11/23/09 LISTEN To Part 2 of 2

744_ Screen casts, screen shots are all things that help people communicate visually 
Wow live from the Defrag 2009 Conference, w3w3.com with the help of our guest Tony Dunckel, Director of Web & Enterprise Services at TechSmith Corp, created an instant video as part of this interview, demoing a fabulous new software called Jing by TechSmith. Pat shot the video while Tony explained Jing to Larry. Check the related links section for this story to see the demo/video. Tony Dunckel, Executive Director, Web & Enterprise Services, TechSmith and was a speaker at Defrag. Tony pointed out, "TechSmith is all about creating content that goes into social media, Twitter, FaceBook, etc., so videos that are on the web, screen casts, screen shots are all things that help people communicate visually, so we're here to help arm those people. built Jing, and it does three things. It allows you to do a screen capture, basically a static picture of anything on your computer screen. You can add arrows and highlights and add quick little annotations to describe your point, and then share that with people. Secondly it allows you to create a video. So you can say, I want to record this area of my screen, I'm going to narrate that and it will be picked up by the system's mic - I can even take the web cam and put my face on that video as well, and now I can narrate a process, use it for training purposes, a demo, a quick tech support - where I can show how to do something without trying to type an email or try to tell them and Jing keeps a copy of everything so it can be reused. There's more...
Related Links: TechSmith Home || Jing Project || Defrag || Economy Builders || Defrag Conference Photos Day 1 of 2 || Defrag Conference Photos Day 2 of 2 || Jing, w3w3.com on YouTube || Keywords: Tony Dunckel, TechSmith, Defrag, Jing Project, Snagit, Camtasia Studio, YouTube, Screen Casts, Screen Shots > Channel: NEWS 7887461 bytes 11/23/09 LISTEN

Business Agility with the Cloud

741_ Business Agility with the Cloud: Do you need an IT department/CIO?
 Defrag 2009 - what an education! - it was the place to be. We corralled Matthew Taylor, Vice President of Managed Services and IT & IS Operations, ViaWest, covering seven states and 16 data centers. Matt was a keynote speaker at the Defrag 2009 Conference. Matt said, "I have a long title because we wear a lot of hats at ViaWest, there's a real value to that for organizations." Topic Matt delivered: Business Agility with the Cloud. We wanted to know, what is the cloud? Matthew replied, "Well, there isn't a definition for 'the cloud' and depending on who you're talking to they have a different definition of the cloud. What we have to take this back to is, the user, customer or CIO, whoever you are, what is it you're trying to get out of a solution overall? So to a business person how do you get agility out of a cloud? You get agility out of a cloud ... and for some this is a painful answer... through your CIO. There are people out there, the press, organizations that have said, 'now the cloud is out there and you don't need your IT department/CIO' -- That's absolutely not the case. The customer needs to make sure they have flexibility to be able to scale up or scale down; pay for what they have to pay for but not overpay. At the same time they need to make sure they have a high level of security. So when you combine all these things, you start to say, I really need to understand each portion of my company from an application standpoint. What do I need to do with it and make sure I'm managing the data and the way those applications work together. What is your best approach and to me that is a CIO and why today, the CIO is more important than ever." Listen for some additional suggestions. Larry asked about SAAS (software as a Service) "...in the last couple of years, I'd heard that was the cloud." Matt agrees it was one of the first offerings from the cloud, there are load testing applications etc., watch the smoke and mirrors - do your homework. He also provides...
Related Links: ViaWest || Defrag || Economy Builders || Event Photos || Keywords: Matthew Taylor, ViaWest, Defrag, Business Agility, Cloud, CIO, Hosting, IT Department, SaaS, Change - Channel: News 12195439 bytes - 11/16/09 LISTEN

Using innovation for social good - NCWIT

Using innovation for social good - NCWIT Entrepreneurial Tool Box
 732_ Lucy Sanders, the CEO for the National Center for Women and Information Technology or NCWIT and Lee Kennedy, NCWIT Director, serial entrepreneur and founder of Boldersearch, along with Larry Nelson, from w3w3.com interviewed Yoky Matsuoka for the NCWIT Entrepreneurial Tool Box series. Yoky is a Torode Family Endowed Career Development Professor in Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. at MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Computational Neuroscience in 1998. She was also a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Department at MIT and in Mechanical Engineering at Harvard University. Today Yoky is an associate professor at the University of Washington focusing on neurobotics. In 2007 Her work in Robotics gained the MacArthur’s Foundation "Genius Award". The MacArthur Foundation characterizes her work as transforming our understanding of how the central nervous system coordinates musculoskeletal action and of how robotic technology can enhance the mobility of people with manipulation disabilities. In addition, Yoky started the YokyWorks Ffoundation – a non-profit to be recognized as a premier provider of practical engineering solutions for people seeking to improve their life experience. Their mission is to enable people to experience life beyond their physical or sensory capabilities. "Also I want to help my volunteers. Many have raised families and now want to have a way to contribute to society and I feel just having them exposed to this effort is giving them pleasure, and that also is extremely rewarding." Listen for more exciting details...
Related Links: Yoky Works || NCWIT Home || NCWIT Practice || NCWIT Blog || Heroes Channel || Keywords: NCWIT, Yoky Matsuoka, Yoky Works, Lucy Sanders, NCWIT, Lee Kennedy, Boldersearch, Entrepreneurial Tool Box, Neurobotics, Channel: NCWIT > 24587183 bytes - 11/2/09 LISTEN

Computing Awards - High School Girls, Grades 9-12

726_ Computing Awards - Designed for High School Girls, Grades 9-12
ATTENTION: Employers, parents, teachers, grandparents, aunts & uncles; It's time for the 2009 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Awards - Designed for girls in High School, grades 9 -12. Girls all around the country are submitting their applications - Due: November 15th, 2009! Larry talked with Ruthe Farmer, Director of Strategic Initiatives, NCWIT about this fascinating program. Ruthe said, "The awards program was designed to recognize and encourage girls who are interested and active in technology at the high school level (grades 9 through 12) and keep them in the pipeline so they can work for you one day. The program is open to any girl in the United States (so any girl with a U.S. Zip Code) is eligible." Larry asked what are the awards? "At the national level, the girls win $500 cash; a laptop which is a gift from Bank of America our National Sponsor; a trip with a parent to the gala "Technology of the Future Showcase" at Bank of America's Headquarters in Charlotte, NC; So it's a pretty big prize package. At the event they'll receive a 'Goodie bag' with a beautiful Crystal/glass Trophy for both them and their school because we really want them displayed in the trophy case right along with the football trophies, creating a tradition that girls at that school apply and win this award. Essentially the girls apply on line and they provide a name and address for their teacher and parent, who also get to view and endorse the application. The application asks questions about the kind of computing they've done..." Listen for more...
Related Links: Applications for Aspirations in Computing & Info for Parents || NCWIT Home || NCWIT Practice || NCWIT Blog || Heroes Channel || Keywords: NCWIT, Aspirations in Computing Award, Ruthe Farmer, High School Girls, Bank of America, Technology Channel: NCWIT > 6477012 bytes - 10/26/09 LISTEN

We're in the middle of a digital tsunami impacting media business

729_ We're in the middle of a digital tsunami that is impacting the media business 
Greg Maffei, President and CEO of Liberty Media Corp was a keynote speaker for the Silicon Flatirons, CTP & the Cable Center event, 'Rise of Broadband Video and Future of Digital Media'. Greg said, "We're in the middle of a digital tsunami that is impacting the media business enormously. FaceBook has 300 million users, up three times in a year; YouTube has 400 million users, by almost any measure it's the largest TV station in the world. About 24 hours of video is uploaded every ten minutes. Ninety-six percent of Gen Y have joined a social network. You can't get 96% of people to do anything. This one is stunning to me; One out of eight couples that married last year, met online. What a transformation that is. And it only accelerates, FaceBook would be the 4th largest country in the world, and the fastest growing segment on FaceBook is 55 to 65 year old women. Google is about twice the size of Time Warner which is the largest traditional media company in advertising. Most of the things that are happening are creating unstable competitive environments and business models with very low barriers to entry and pricing power is destroyed for all entrants. Some examples of that destruction of legacy business models; music, a well known story. Are we going to see this in video? Perhaps. Hulu is hugely destructive and I don't think the people behind it NBC and the like, Fox, are going to stay with it long - I think they're going to change the model because it is not sustainable. Newspapers is probably the best example that is current right now." There's much more...
Related Links: Liberty Media || Silicon Flatirons || CTP Channel || CTP Home || Channel: CTP 30379584 bytes - 10/26/09 LISTEN

Emerging video marketplace - opportunities disruptive innovation

724_ The emerging video marketplace and the opportunities for disruptive innovation 
Then Mitchell Berman, Chief Executive Officer & Co-Founder of ZillionTV addressed the issues impacting rise of broadband video and the future of digital media. The new emerging broadband-based video model calls into question a number of technological, economic, and policy premises of the current multi-channel video programming environment. A critical question for established players--both the content developers and the distributors--is whether they embrace this emerging business model or fight it. Recognizing how the Internet undermined the market position of the recording industry and the newspaper industry, many established firms are looking to embrace these changes, in some cases funding or buying upstarts like ZillionTV, and in other cases, developing their own on-demand libraries (as Comcast is in the process of doing). In so doing, they are pushing technological development in this area to provide, as ZillionTV CEO put it, "unlimited video-on-demand, perfectly personalized to the consumer taste, and with advertisers able to push ads precisely to align with that taste." This conference examined the emerging video marketplace, discussing the opportunities for disruptive innovation, the nature of the changing business models, and the public policy responses. In so doing, they brought together a range of academics, policymakers, and business persons. Mitchell went on to explain why he feels TV is here to stay. In the face of such a changing environment, some critics...there's more...
Related Links: ZillionTV || Silicon Flatirons || CTP Channel || CTP Home || Mastering Change || Keywords: Mitchell Berman, ZillionTV, Dale Hatfield, Silicon Flatirons, Cable TV, ESPN, HBO, Change > Channel: CTP > 14372679 bytes 10/20/09 LISTEN

Colorado is the place to be if you want to be in business for yourself

715_ "If you are a new entrepreneur, coming into the market, the first thing you've got to realize is that you are a sales person. That is a skill that you've got to have to run your own business." Larry interviewed Dawn Todd the key person behind the Angel Capital Summit, of course, that's coordinating between Rockies Venture Club and Catapult Business Development and everything else. Dawn went onto outlining the top three things for new entrepreneurs. " The second thing I would say is that you've got to sell into which you already know. It's a challenge to sell into a brand new market. Third, in my opinion, you have to learn to manage your own thoughts, because it's true that not everything you think, is true. It's your consciousness that drives your business and once you learn how to manage your own thoughts, then you can drive your business where you want it to go." She went onto explain the key points about the Angel Capital Summit. The Angel Capital Summit is an event that brings together entrepreneurs and investors, and gives them a chance to create a relationship. Probably one of the most innovative events that I've seen put together. It really gives entrepreneurs an opportunity to prepare themselves and think like an investor. This will actually be the largest Angel Investor Event in the United States this year! And I've got to say I am very excited, I think I am the first woman chair of this event. I attended the Angel Capital Summit last year and Wildly Successful Woman was a marketing partner, and really excited to be part of that. I attended the event, there were about 700 people there last year, and I looked around the room and there were about 150 women and I was so shocked, amazed. So after the event...listen, there's more...
Related Links: Angel Capital Summit 11/17/09 || Rockies Venture Club || Business Catapult || Dawn Todd Home || Wildly Successful Woman || Mastering Change || Keywords: Dawn Todd, Angel Capital Summit, Rockies Venture Club, Business Catapult, Wildly Successful Woman, Entrepreneur, > Bytes: 8116665 9/14/08 LISTEN

Dear Ned, I saw your blog recommending setting data center thermostats to 75°

676_ Dear Ned, I saw your blog recommending setting data center thermostats to 75° 
We couldn't help but ask, "Do you really do that? And if so, how's that working out?" Ned and Trent got into a very eye-opening discussion. Ned McClain and Trent Hein, co-founders of Applied Trust Engineering have launched a new series called, "Dear Ned...I'm in over my head". Ned went onto say, "We really care about the environment - we're concerned about conservation and using the least amount of energy needed to do business in our normal ways, but overall in this economic environment we should all be concerned about saving money. Turning up the thermostat in your data center can save a lot of cost on cooling and air conditioning. This heating, ventilation, air-conditioning cost is a tremendous part of data centers. Sometimes 50% of all the energies you spend on your data centers isn't running the computers but is keeping those computers cool. We visit a lot of data centers that were built in the 70's,80's or 90's and computers built in the 70's really needed to be kept cold. But computers built in the late 90's or 2000's have a lot more tolerance for heat. So when you walk into a data center that's really cold and you see only modern hardware, there's a gap there. Those folks are probably operating with 1980's practices for keeping their data centers at 70°F or lower when in fact they could probably turn it up 5 or 10 or more degrees and save 100s or thousands of dollars each year. Then they talk about Google...
Related Links: Barking Seal Blog || Applied Trust || Women in IT || Dear Ned || Keywords: Data Center, Ned McClain, Trent Hein, Applied Trust Engineering, ATE, Barking Seal, Dear Ned > Channels: Dear Ned Bytes: 13526834 LISTEN 6/15/09 LISTEN

Colorado Companies to Watch – Growing and Creating Jobs

672_ Colorado Companies to Watch – Growing and Creating Jobs 
"However many billions the federal government is pumping into the economy, one truth rings clear: It will be business that will lift the country out of the doldrums and thrust it forward into the 21st century," says Colorado Biz Magazine. Larry talked with Stephanie Steffens, who gives us an overview of an exciting new program 'Colorado Companies to Watch' recognizing second stage companies all over the state of Colorado. She said, "In addition to the gala event on the 25th of June, we're also going to recognize these companies through a year-long program called 'This Week's Company to Watch' where we spend a week highlighting that company, press releases, interviews, attention and recognition, and we will do that every week for 50 weeks. An example of one of the resources is the partnership with ACG Denver. This is about all the companies in Colorado that are growing, creating jobs, developing valuable products and services, and a lot of times creating brand new industries. These are incredible companies that make a huge impact in our state, day after day; fly under the radar, nobody knows they're there - but they're plugging away and creating a huge number of jobs. On June 25th all 50 companies will be receiving awards.
Related Links: Colorado Companies to Watch || Advance Colorado || Colorado Rising || ColoradoBiz || Keywords: Colorado Companies to Watch, Stephanie Steffens, Second Stage Companies, ACG, Colorado Biz, Awards, 6/8/09 > Bytes: 12905119 LISTEN