ForbesOnTech

I was Right; Stupidity Should Hurt--My Murderous ATV

I’m limping proof of the axiom: “stupidity should be painful.”

Last week I started to take my trash containers down to the street. Seated on my ATV, I reached over to pick up the plastic yard trash container with my left hand. Whereupon, forgetting that I have serious left side weakness, I fell off my Kawasaki quad, which promptly returned the love and excellent care I provide it by running me over in low gear.

Lying on the ground I distinctly remember thinking “Uh Oh, this is going to hurt” as the quad’s rear wheel chugged up my left leg, starting at my foot. It hen motored over my left ankle, continuing past my knee and finally coming off my body after it ran over my groin.

At 6 am in the morning no one was awake here at Rancho Bizarro to hear my plaintive bleating “Help, help!”

So I crawled slug-like over to my quad, pulled myself up, used my right leg to mount the quad, sidesaddle and complete my morning chores.

I drove my murderous ATV up on my porch and hobbled through the door to my home office.

I thought “hell, I have pretty good motion in my ankle and knee so nothing’s broken, I’ll just man up and deal with the pain of two strained joints. Besides. I have some Vicodin left from my last injury,”

By last Thursday the pain in my watermelon-sized left foot convinced me to go see my Doc.

My self-diagnosis was wrong; a slender bone on the top of my foot had a hairline crack.

And guess what? There’s not much they can do for such stupidity induced injuries, so a nurse showed me how to use a compression wrapper to girth my foot and told me to put an ice pack on it several times a day.

Oh they also refilled my seriously depleted bottle of Vicodin.

So for the last several days I’ve spent my days watching bad comedies, sniveling, and hobbling around my house with a cane.

The one upside to all this was the bad color combinations on the tie-dyed t-shirts I made yesterday and the fact that a high wheel; Caterpillar DH-5 was mysteriously left on a nearby vacant lot two days ago.

Damn the warning on the side of the bottle ”Do not operate heavy machinery while taking this drug!”

Well duh.

Like I said stupidity should be painful.—Jim Forbes 06/28/2009

yukon Gold Vines Dying, but I'm happy, Squash Going Vertical in Cages; Cottontails Arrive in Regimental Strength

This is one of my four tubs of Yukon Gold potatoes. No, they're not trashed. In fact, it's good that the vines are dying. As soon as they're all brown-- in about one more week, it's time to dump the tubs and harvest tasty tubers.

  In an effort to give my tomato vines more room to spreadout, I caged my butternut squash this year. i'm pretty sure that by harvest time, the vines will have completed one vertical lap of the cage and started back up.

Just when I thought all of the burrowing rodents had moved out of my garden, Mr Cottontail showed up.

It's not that I mind one cottontail. it's when an entire regiment (reinforced) shows up that i briefly consider and discard the idea of unlimbering my scoped Ruger 10/22. Run bunny Run!

 

No, I didn't blast the bunny. Beside the territory under the peach tree in front of Ma Forbes' patio is "Sanctuary"! Besides, it's loaded with fallen ripe peaches.

The preceding interlude has been brought to you by an old retired journalist who succumbed to a long-represssed desire to grow things late in life.--Jim "Farmer "Forbes 06/20/2009

Lost balance, Fell of Quad ATV, Running Over My Ankle and Knee-- Paying More Attention to Details, Post Stroke.

Woops. Taking the yard trash down to the street this morning I had an unpleasant reminder of why I should never forget I have a stroke-related condition called “left-side deficit.”

Having mounted my ATV< I drove over to pick up my container of yard trash, reached too far and lost my balance. I instinctively stuck my left leg down to stop the fall and reached with my right hand to the ATV’s right handlebar. I mistakenly grabbed to low and hit the quad’s accelerator paddle giving it a slight goose.

Whereupon I felt the bikes left rear wheel roll over my foot and then my ankle. I had enough presence of mind to throw myself off the Quad and try to keep my left leg straight. Eventually the ATV slowed -- after it rolled over my kneecap.

Whimpering on the ground, I managed to stand. The pain was there, and I quickly wiggled my leg and ankle to make sure nothing was broken.

Meanwhile, my quad has idled away and is pushing against my neighbor’s chain link fence.. I gingerly dragged myself to the ATV, took a side saddle position and reversed back to the yard trash barrel, taking it down to the street, a half mile down my driveway.

I guess I won’t be climbing a ladder this weekend, picking peaches.

But I do have a new supply of pain pills, a nice Irish shillelagh, and some parked heavy equipment I have an inexplicable urge to operate, right after my nap

It’s absolutely true: “that which doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.” And sometimes it makes you more cautious too.—Jim Forbes, 06/19/2009

CLick Frees Credit Card-Sized Traveler at Forefront of Back-up Hardware Renaissance

There’s a major renaissance underway now in peripherals that enhance mobile computers and personal computing. I believe nothing makes this point better than backup systems that are as reliable as they are easy to use.

In the dark ages of backup, you had to tediously load your data on CD after CD to protect your personal files, then came first generation peripherals such as those made by IO Mega and others that simplified this basic process.

In the fullness of time, cloud based virtual storage and backup appeared. However the cost of personal broadband kept such solutions out of reach of many consumers, and many of those providers evaporated in the heat of the first dot com melt down.

The back-up technology Renaissance may be one of the best things that has ever happened to portable users. Devices have gotten smaller, but more importantly; backup software has reached the point where little or no user intervention is needed. My favorite backup device is so small (roughly the length and depth of a credit card) it’s earned a permanent place in my back pack. With 16 GB of SSD memory, the ClickFree Traveler has all the memory I need to back up virtually all of my important documents, power point, OneNote ands other files, plus there’s room for the frequently funny .WMV files as well as important family photos I store.

Using the Traveler couldn’t be easier; you just swivel out its naked USB connector, which is attached to the device with a fine ribbon cable, connect it to an available USB port and mark the files or directories you want to backup. That’s it. It took less than five minutes to back up the  several gigabytes of files in “My Documents” directory that I think  are critically imporant and less than 30 seconds more for the other files I want to carry with  me on the road.

I like that Click Free’s Traveler works with entertainment data files, and this device is a convenient way to carry gigabytes worth of music or high quality movies, without eating up disk space on a notebook.

ClickFree’s software simplifies backing data up like no other application I've ever used before.

Like other members of the ClickFree backup device family, Traveler backs up only the information you think you need. It doesn’t “scrape” your drive, copying drivers and other code needed to boot up your computer. And, it can be used with multiple computers, which (exactly what I do with it) and is a reason why I think this is a great backup device.

I tested Click Free’s Traveler on several laptops (My Lenovo IdeaPad 650, a friend’s macbook Pro running OSX Leopard), an Acer Netbook, and an HP all in one desktop. It successfully backed up all my vrious file types found on my machines running Windows XP, the 64-bit version of Vista and the aforementioned Apple operating system

Click Free Traveler can be ordered from www.clickfree.com and is available in three configurations: $79.99 for 16GB, $149.99 for32GB, and $249.99 for 64GB. All three of the devices  use the same credit card-sized form factor.

While this device’s size and form factor may tempt you to try  and keep it in your wallet you have only to look at the gently curved credit cards there to understand that Click Free Traveler would last longer in a pocket in your computer carrying case than encased in leather riding on your hip.—Jim Forbes 06/16/2009.

Giving Memorable Product Demonstrations-- Recommended Reading on How to Nail a Demo

Learning how to pitch an idea or a company may be one of the most important things an entrepreneur can learn on the path to success. Sadly it’s not something that’s taught in business schools.

“Giving Memorable Product Demonstrations”,a new book penned by Nathan Gold and Claudio Sennhauser, provides the basics of how to quickly and effectively pitch any business or technology.

Open this book and you’ll find that it’s much more than a primer for young entrepreneurs.  It starts out with a simple idea:  inventory and critique your presentation skills using a video camera in one continuous take. From that point on, Gold and Sonnhauser show entrepreneurs and other presenters how to build and deliver effective live product demonstrations using basic and proven techniques

This book divides demonstrations into seven readily understood steps. I like the author’s approach to the concept of how to deliver compelling demonstrations because they don’t mask key points with marketing double speak.

This how-to manual is a must read for anyone that wants to deliver results-oriented presentations or demonstrations to a wide variety of audiences, including venture capital providers.  Furthermore, this book should be a must read for any corporate third-party marketing consultant involved in any demonstration setting.

The authors have decades of experience in developing presentations. Nathan Gold is one of the few people in the last nine years who have earned more than one DemoGod award at Demo new product launch events. Claudio Sennhauser, who with Mr. Gold is also a cofounder of The Demo Coach, is an experienced presentation coach with an extensive background working for European companies. “Giving Memorable Product Demonstrations” can be purchased for $19.95 direct here  . A hard bound version of the book will be available later this summer and can be purchased at Amazon.com or other book retailers.

This book is a valuable resource to anyone who needs to deliver an effective memorable presentation that can be used for numerous categories of audiences.—Jim Forbes 06/15/2009

Disclosure: As a producer of Demo events, I was among the group that gave Mr. Gold his first DemoGod award.

Rethinking Bundling-- Cloud-Based Bundles Could Drive Netbook Success!

Dominance in the emerging netbook category could be subject to an old, overlooked play by manufacturers:software bundling. Bundling is as old as the computer market but an adverse reaction to so-called shovel-ware has cast a pall over the practice. Despite this, well thought out bundles designed for persistently connected netbooks could be a determining factor in the long term success or failure of this category.

Let’s look at where netbooks are today. Superficially, most of the news driving netbook coverage has been entirely too predictable and based on the mundane: manufacturers releasing machines with the latest processor and core logic; incremental enhancements such as larger keyboards and screens, the addition of discrete graphics, or support of WAN cellular modems and deals with national cell networks.

What’s been overlooked; however, is usability and suitability, areas where netbooks designed around one or more cloud-based software suites can assume leadership positions.

Today, netbooks are not pitched at corporate IT except to the extent that corporate IT has deployed individual test systems or in limited evaluations of web based applications. The market netbook manufacturers miss right now are medium sized organizations using Software as application-based solutions (SAAS) such as those provided by entities like SalesForce.com. And there’s a lot of light space in Sales Force.com’s cloud, because it’s never tried to be an office automation software supplier.

This is where Google or (a mightily revamped Microsoft) can shine through. Both have stakes in office automation software. And Google’s cloud-based word processing, spreadsheet and presentation graphics have been evaluated by most major corporations (which represents the figurative pot of gold at the end of the cloud-based SAAS and netbook rainbows).

Google may be the most obvious supplier of such a suite, but even that company has patchy holes in its cloud cover when it comes to software as an application. While Google has a strong SAAS suite, there’s enough wiggle room in its strategy for other companies to squeeze in and grab Google while profiting from the net book phenomena. Specifically the opportunity for Google is sales automation software that includes rugged contact management with rock solid synchronization.

Another part of the equation belongs to the cell networks. By definition, persistent connectivity is the backbone of mobile workforces equipped with netbooks. Any hardware maker that wants to succeed in netbooks will need a cell network partner. And it’s those partners who can assemble the alliances needed for an effective cloud-based strategy to large, medium-sized or other businesses.—Jim Forbes 09/13/2009

How to Make the Perfect Peach Pie--First, Wake 91 Year Old Mother From Nap, Then "Flee Kitchen."

How to make a perfect Peach Pie:

1. Pick ripe peaches.2. peel peaches3. Wake 91 year old napping mother.4.Get flour, and other redients,mixing bowl rolling pin ready5.Obey instructions to  "get the hell out of the kitchen."6. wait patiently, eat pie.7. Repeat as necessary when more peaches and apricots ripen.

Photo of MaForbes and yet another of her absolutely perfect pies. Disregard Catzilla in background. Summertime, and the living is very easy.Jim Forbes; 06/110/2009

Pre Begins Shipping, Palm Co-Founder and CEO Steps Aside-- Collligan to join Elevation Partners, Rubenstein Bumped to "Chief Executive"

Now that Palm has shipped its much vaunted Pre smart phone, Ed Colligan, the company’s CEO and one of the company’s three original founders has stepped down and is being replaced by John Rubenstein, whose title will be “chief executive.”

Mr. Colligan had been with Palm since well before the launch of its first PDA product, the Palm Pilot, more than 15 years ago. Before being named CEO, Colligan was in charge of all Palm’s marketing activities. Colligan said he would be joining Elevation Partners, a private equity firm that bought a 27 percent equity position in Palm for $325 million in 1007.

Mr. Rubenstein was recruited by Palm to be the company’s chief technology officer more than two years ago.  Prior to Palm, John Rubenstein was the senior vice president of hardware engineering at Apple Inc. He’s been widely credited with overseeing the development and design of Apple’s iPod.

While externally Palm and its executive team appear to have been focused solely on the Pre, Mr. Rubenstein takes the helm of this pioneering company at a time when it has at least one more smart phone aimed at consumers under development and is also nearly ready to unveil its Palm OS software development kit (SDK).

Sources within Palm confirm a consumer version of the Pre is still under development and could be released later this year. The sources declined to be named in this report and a Palm spokesman yesterday declined to comment on the reports of the unreleased device.—Jim Forbes 06/10/2008.

Palm Takes a Giant Bite of Apple's WWDC buzz-- Thoughts on Masterful Marketing

Palm has done something I didn’t think was really possible: In the days before and hours after Apple’s anticipated Worldwide Developer’s Conference they out buzzed Apple.

Who would have thought Palm--widely perceived as crawling on the razor’s edge that separates prominence and fame from oblivion—Could capture more attention than Apple, whose loyal user and developer base can always be counted on to hype announcements?

In this case I thought it not only could ,but along the way would be able to outshine Apple’s announcement of updates to its now aging iPhone line.. Here’s how I think Palm out buzzed Apple:

1.                   Palm has been intently focused on the launch of its new Pre smart phone and its marketing campaign has been nothing short of masterful.

2.                 Much of the credit for Palm’s launch goes to it’s long time PR agency, AR- Edelman in San Mateo. AR developed and executed the Palm Pre launch masterfully. I honestly believe that no other agency could have done better than AR Edelman’s efforts on behalf of Palm.

3.                 Within Palm, Ed Colligan, the company’s CEO but seldom identified third co-founder, quietly designed and executed a launch strategy that guaranteed a high buzz level in the protracted period between the Palm Pre’s introduction and its first availability.

4.                 Palm has been extremely careful not to dilute its Pre campaign with news about the imminent unveiling of its SDK for the Pre, needed to help position Pre against it’s real competitors Research in Motion’s blackberry family and smart phones based on Google’s Android architecture.

5.                 Palm has an installed base of very loyal developers. However, because the popularity RIM’s and Apple’s products, the number of third-party developers who have the bandwidth to simultaneously work on three or four platforms is unclear. To overcome this, Palm will have to provide third party developers with compelling reasons to develop for the Pre and a subsequent consumer version of the same platform, sources close to Palm say is now under development. A spokesman for Palm declined to comment on the reports of a consumer based version of the Pre.

Looking out at Palm’s Pre launch campaign, it’s difficult to imagine that little Palm could out buzz Apple with the first availability of its Pre. But that’s what happened.—Jim Forbes, 06/09/2009

My Front Yard's Fruited Plains-- Peaches, Avocados and Apricots

Look carefully, and you'll see tiny brown/green dots. Those are the first avocados my five-year-old Pinkerton has produced.  it's going to be a long wait and many gallons of water unytil the finished three-pound druits mature late this year.  just up the hill from my pinkerton is a five-year-old Reed avocado also in first production. Thr Pinkerton avocado is probably the best tasting cultivar followed closely by the Reed and then the much more common Haas.

Lordy, lordy, my Avalon freestone has gone crazy this year. Shortly after i snapped this picture on June 7, i thinned about 50 green peaches, to make my tree produce larger, sweeter fruit. i suspect i'll have tgwo huge bins of ripe fruit in less than three weeks. Tomorrow morning i'm putting bird netting on my two peaches and my two apricot trees.

One of the hobbies i strongly recommend for stroke therapy is gardening. Like many people who have had a stroke and learned how to adjust to life, I'm often depressed, angry and frustrated, however, rather than simmer all day, i grab my gardening tools, a bag of steer manure and head out to my garden or the swelling fuit treeorchard in my one-acre front yard. i don't need to spend a long time in the garden or communing with my fruit trees to get centered again. And at sunset, i only have to walk out to my garden and look at the just turning red early beefsteak totoes, my lettuce and corn to feel really good about my life and to accept my changed life willingly.The stone fruits ripening in my front yard make me sit back and imagine the smell of a just cooked cobbler.  The deadline pressures of Silicon valley are mostly a faded memory now. And  to stay in the "now" i only have to walk 200 feet to either of my two gardens, or look down the hill to my fruit trees.--Jim Forbes 06/07/2009.

Will Oracle use Sun to make Another Run at Hardware?-- Ellison Hints at "Yes"

Oracle’s Larry Ellison says Oracle will keep java perking even after his company completes its acquisition of Sun later this year, according to a published report on News.com today here.

But Ellison is unlikely to restrict java to his particular software coffee maker and recently said he wants to see it extended to “cell phones and netbooks” according to the report.

Oracle’s chairman has made no secret of his interest in developing and marketing so-called network appliances in years past.  Since the late 1980’s Ellison has had two false starts attempting to design and launch computers designed to hang on networks as inexpensive replacements for the common PC.

The acquisition of Sun Microsystems, best known for Java (but which had its earlier roots as a hardware maker that developed and used its own SPARC processors for servers and technical workstations), could become the force that drives Oracle, or selected partners, into the hardware market.

News.com quotes Mr. Ellison as saying ”I think you’ll see us (Sun and Oracle) get very aggressive in developing Java apps for things like telephones and netbooks.”

Speaking at a software developer’s conference intimated that Oracle/Sun could design, produce and market devices that would compete directly with hardware that runs Google’s Java-based Android operating system.

So will Oracle’s acquisition of Sun finally yield a network appliance or netbook? I think it’s hard not to think that Mr.  Ellison could at last be on the right track.—Jim Forbes 06/04/2009.