ForbesOnTech

Why is Today's Portable Computing Marketing Stiill Stuck in the last Century's Model?

 

Portable computer technology is at a seminal point in history, yet most portable computing marketing is still mired in 1990’s marketing that’s little more than a feature checklist that’s been stuffed into a spread sheet and then turned over to a graphic artist before it’s posted on the web. And all of this flies in the face of tha availability of flash-based animation or video technology that can be used to highlight great portables.

Nothing makes this more apparent than this week’s rollout of Intel’s new chipset and Centrino II brand. My overwhelming reaction to the is a yawn and a direct phrase words: “Get out of the 1990’sm marketing model and break new ground!”

Faster processor speed for me is a yawner.  I’ve come to expect them from Intel. What are important today are the increased and new capabilities of chipsets. Better WiFi range, or integrated support of WiMax are very important, but unless you see or experience their tangible benefits, they’re just words in a self-serving marketing presentation.

I’m not ashamed that I spent a portion of my professional life as a PR person. I learned a lot working the opposite side of the table from editors. And foremost among the things I understood was whenever it was possible I should show the direct benefits of something, rather than merely gabbing about it.

If I were working in PR today for Intel or one of its portable computer marketing partners, I would have set up tables with new notebooks that incorporate the new technology in a parking lot or field. Each of the tables would also have an older notebook with legacy wireless networking chipsets.  And each of the tables would set in front of as range marker listing the distance between it and the WiFi router.

The very visible point of the demonstration is that the new chipsets free notebook users from being close to a WiFi access point.

Now let’s think a minute about Intel’s WiMax WAN technology. Want a fun way to demonstrate it?  Set up a test network along Amtrak’s Oakland, CA to Sacramento right of way. Now load up 15 reporters, editors or industry luminaries in several of the cars on a train’s consist ( the term used to describe an engine and cars expressed as a single unit). Let them experience true persistent mobile connectivity, sit back and wait an hour or so for the rave reviews to appear.

Mobile persistent connectivity is a transformational experience for most users.

I’m an occasional user of Verizon’s Edge network when I ride the train between San Diego and eastern Los Angeles County. It turns my commute from a passive to an extremely productive experience. Great wireless, and most of all persistent wireless connectivity is something that’s so transformational you often wonder why it’s not more pervasive.

To restate my original premise: It’s time for notebook marketing to catch up with the times.  Notebook product managers shouldn’t being showing big PowerPoint decks, they should have their audience out in field 150 (or more) yards away from an access point, doing what I’m doing right now, writing a blog post underneath a fruited peach tree in my front yard.

It beats sitting in a conference room looking at a Presentation graphics marketing deck with a product manager or PR person who refuses to go off message for even one second.—Jim Forbes 07/15/2008.

 

 

 

Notes from a Conscript in the Borg Army-- How i've Come to Depend on Bluetooth

I’ve been shanghaied into the Borg army.

            As a Borg conscript, I was first armed with a simple headset. However, geek that I am, “I’ve promoted myself into the Borg’s heavy weapons section.

            My conscription into the ranks of the blue tooth Borg army began nearly six months ago, well in advance of California’s mandatory hands free headset law, which took effect last week. I had a difficulty adjusting to the rigors of Borg boot camp, trying unsuccessfully to connect two head sets to my LG and Palm Treo 650 phones, and a succession of notebooks (including a Thinkpad X60s and a MacBook Pro). Four headsets later, I’ve advanced through the ranks of the Borg Army and have added not only a Bluetooth speakerphone, but also a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to my arsenal, as well as some primitive weather instrumentation that sits outside my office.

What surprised me about adding Bluetooth peripherals to my computers and cell phones was that initially it wasn’t very easy to pair headsets with phones, which contradicts the basic premise of how easy it would be to use blue tooth peripherals for sort range networking.

My earliest experiences with Bluetooth were almost comical: I’d wave my headset around in the air, next to, above or below a cell phone or notebook, hoping to establish a link. One day, thoroughly exasperated. I made two trips to the local Fry’s electronics store to exchange headsets I thought were defective because I couldn’t get them to connect.

            Eventually, I bite down on the bullet and finally got through to tech support. After installing new drivers on my notebook, my headset connected. But what I learned on that and subsequent phone calls with tech support is that the combination of Bluetooth and other wireless communications drivers can cause problems.

I found this to be particularly true when I first installed a Bluetooth keyboard to my primary computer. After spending about 20 minutes on the phone with the most patient tech support rep I’ve ever dealt with, I was able to get my keyboard and mouse working and quickly attach a Jabra Bluetooth speakerphone.

As a result of my experience with Bluetooth, I’ve made Jabra headsets and other Bluetooth accessories the de facto standard in my life. They’re easily attached to any of my multiple Bluetooth networks and they produce they best quality audio I’ve ever experiences with any portable device.

Almost nine years after it made it’s first commercial appearance, Bluetooth peripherals are a partr of my everyday computing experience. I use them on my cell phone, on my notebook and desktops and in ways that improve my ability to clearly communicate.

The best example of how Bluetooth really works for me is my dependence on Skype. With my Jabra headset or speakerphone, most people can’t tell I’m working at a table on my front porch—unless one of the local crows or mocking birds, lands in front of me and starts sounding off.—Jim Forbes 07/087/2008.

 

The Unintended Dangers of A Redial-- from a Soldier's Cellphone-- In the Midst of a Firefight

Today’s personal technologies like cell phones, portable computers and digital cameras are so commonplace among members of our military that many soldiers forget they are carrying them in the rucksacks or pockets of their utility uniforms.

            Take the case of a young soldier stationed in Afghanistan who tried to call his parents back home in Oregon but no one was home. So, the young Army specialist puts his cell phone back in his pocket and goes off on patrol.

            The patrol is engaged by Afghani evil-doers, the soldier takes up a firing position using a HumVee for cover.  The Problem then is that as the soldier presses up against the vehicle, his phone accidentally redials, connects and he ends up leaving a three-minute voice mail of a hot firefight, which scares the Bejesus out of his parents when they listen to their voice mail when they come home from shopping. The audio in the voice mail lays it all out, soldiers screaming for “more ammo,” orders to engage distant targets, and an urgent request for a replacement barrel from the soldier for his Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). The voices are urgent and in the background is the constant thud of an automatic 40mm grenade launcher, the longer brrps of the SAW and the high pitched racket of M16’s, all left on an answering machine back home in Oregon.

            The accidental redial ends about three minutes into the call, just after one of the patrol’s other members spots an incoming smoke trail and yells “RPG!” (rocket propelled grenade).

            The upside of all this is that the parents were able to reach the soldier on his cell phone later that day and discovered his was fine, but embarrassed about the commotion of the unintentional redial. It was then that his little brother posted the audio to YouTube. You can listen to it here.

            I guess that in addition to making sure that members of patrols are buttoned up, have clean rifles, chow and water, squad sergeants now have to make sure that soldier’s have their cell phones turned off before they cross the wire.—Jim Forbes 05/06/2008.

FCC Lays Foundation for National Emergency Texting

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A program to create a nationwide alert system using cell phones and other mobile devices was approved Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission.
An emergency text message would be sent in the event of a widespread disaster, severe weather or child abduction.
The system would send text messages to Americans when an emergency occurs.
The FCC said cell phone companies that voluntarily opt into the system would send text-based alert messages to subscribers in response to three types of events:
A disaster that could jeopardize the health and safety of Americans, such as a terrorist attack; these would trigger a national alert from the president of the United States
Imminent or ongoing threats such as hurricanes, tornadoes or earthquakes
Child abductions or Amber alerts.
T-Mobile, Verizon, Sprint Nextel and AT&T all stated that they would be likely to opt into the alert system if it is passed by the FCC.
"While we obviously need to review the details of the FCC's decision, we look forward to offering mobile emergency alerts to our customers," AT&T said in a written statement.

A national emergency alert system based on mobile phone texting? It’s about time. But it’s only part of a solution. How about cities, counties and states take a big step further and adopt reverse 911 emergency notification systems.
That’s what we have in San Diego County where I live and it was put to work quickly last fall during the 2007 firestorm season. While there were some minor glitches in the notification system (a couple of neighborhoods were told to evacuate earlier than was necessary) the use of Reverse 911 during the 2007 Fire season is a text book example of how useful some technologies can be in disasters.
I was directly effected by the Witch Creek Fire.  We lost several homes on my street when the fire came roaring through the nearby adjoining city of Ramona, CA. Rather than wait for the “official evacuation notification.” I started collecting my gear as soon as I could see flames cresting the hill that separates my place from Ramona.
The “evacuate now” order came late in the afternoon the next day. By phone.
I loaded my two useless cats in their cages, hooked up my dog and installed him on my front passenger seat and drove by my two elderly neighbors to make sure they were packed and ready to go and had transportation.
Adding emergency text message notification to the system  is the next logical step. But before that happens nationwide cell networks are going to need to become a lot smarter. A whole lot smarter.
One of the problems I foresee is with yahoos like me. My cell phone is a 650 area code number, but I live 400 miles south of Silicon Valley in the 760 area code. Now that cell networks support GPS, it doesn’t seem like too much of a technological stretch to assume that me cell network knows I’m in the 760 area code and any emergency information relative to the specific area is something I need to be aware of.
There are some other baby steps that can be taken to cover the ground needed to keep the citizenry informed.  While I personally don’t like the social media messaging application Teitter.  I believe regional emergency Twitter URL’s could be an important information dissemination channel.
Observationally, the one thing local electronic and print media and local government could have done much better here in North San Diego County during the Witch Creek Fire, was provide better communications to local residents including electronic maps of road closures. More than 500,000 people in my county were told to leave their homes in the last Fire storm. Most of us ended up in emergency shelters. And the one thing that was in real short supply was real time information.
National emergency text messaging is a great first step. The next logical move for it is at the regional, county and city-level.--Jim Forbes 04/09/2008

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IFund Could Also Fuel Android and Java Brew App Development

If you think Kleiner Perkins Caufield &Byers’ (KPCB) iFund is just an end run by Apple to keep developers and new high profile mobile Internet applications off other platforms, you’re wrong, suggests Matt Murphy, the KPCB partner in Menlo Park, CA charged with running the $100 million dollar investment pool.

            Murphy makes it clear that while Kleiner Perkins is strongly behind Apple’s iPhone as “the platform of choice” for the mobile Internet, “There are no conditions whatsoever” that locks an iFund developer to the Apple iPhone,” Mr. Murphy notes. Moreover, “We fully expect companies to support other (smart phone) platforms to address an even larger user base.”
            One of the other mobile internet platforms expected to appear in the us domestic market in the coming months is Google’s Android operating system, which could make it’s appearance on handsets sold by US cell network operators by the end of this year. Android and Java Brew are two of the smart phone operating systems that iFund developers could also build applications for Mr.Murphy says.

“We just believe that developers will find the best platform and the most advanced user base on the iPhone, he adds.

Although the priority of KPCB’s iFund is to invest in standalone applications, it’s large enough that it’s mere presence could create the leverage needed to drive the development of new mobile Internet applications and a new generation of smart phones that are designed from the outset for use with voice and internet connectivity.—Jim Forbes 03/28/2008

News.com's M. Reardon Blog on the Wireless Networks Future -- A Must Read

A blog entry By News.com’s Marguerite Reardon that appeared this morning here begs reading by anyone who’s interested in the future of cellular networks. Ms Reardon uses a filing by Verizon signaling its intent to open its network to unlocked devices as the basis for a well thought out riff on open wireless networks. I like it that she took the time to put two and two together in this entry to get to an important, but very obvious conclusion; open networks will foster creativity and the development of next generation devices and services. MsReardon’s blogs are one of a small handful of reporter social media essays I try to read. If you’re interested in the present and future status of wireless, I recommend her posts.

What Does $100 Million For iPhone Developers Buy Apple?--Platform Legitimacy!

The creation of a $100 million fund that’s designed to fuel development of business and other applications for Apple’siPhone could be just the push Apple needs to continue its success.

            Administered by top-ranked Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the iPhone fund has met with unprecedented demand for meetings with the administering firm and downloads of software development kits (SDKs) from Apple. Apple reported earlier this week that its IPhone SDK had been downloaded more than 100,000 times.  Meanwhile, up on Sandhill Road in Menlo Park, CA, KPCB is reportedly seeing meeting requests from startups and established developers alike. All of which want a piece of the iPhone iFund’s gold-laden bandwagon.

            KPCB’s iFund has the same value as it’s Java Fund from the 1990’s. Apple and KPCB officials are hopeful developers will respond to funding with games, location-based services as well as enterprise and personal applications.

            Although games for mobile phones have not gained wide acceptance in the US market, they represent significant revenue in offshore markets such as Asia and Europe. I believe the iPhone with its above average graphics could be the mobile phone platform that makes games a profitable venture for US software developers and their wireless carrier partners. In addition its use of internal hardware that senses whether the phone is being used in landscape or portrait modes could be a boost for games developers looking for a viable platform.

            There are other applications I hope show up for the iPhone. Foremost among those are location based services including generating relevant local coupons. Banking and personal finance packages are other applications that could drive iPhone sales and help carriers.  Chase as well as other banks are now actively advertising the use of mobile phones as a method to check account balances, but the technology could be made much more capable, allowing consumers to perform all of the same financial tasks using their cell phones as they do on their primary computers (view balances as well as manipulate accounts and financial positions).      

            In reports that surfaced earlier this week, there was at least one mention that Apple would need to approve applications for its iPhone.

            According to Kleiner Perkins, the iFund will makes investments as little as $100,000 in seed financing and up to $15 million in expansion funding for mobile applications or services companies. The venture firm also noted that if the demand for iPhone funding exceeded $100 million, the company would raise additional funding.

            The importance of funding programs that are limited to specific platforms is hard to understate, I believe.  Like all risk financing based enterprises, there are many more failures than successes. The Java fund, for example, isn’t notable for the number of its long-term high flyers, but rather that it helped make Java a commonly used platform throughout various computing environments.  Take Marimba Software as an example. It got a lot of attention in the period during and after its funding. But today Marimba is little more than a historical footnote to an earlier time in the entrepreneurial environment of the 1990’s. Now a part of BMC Software Solutions Inc. in Houston, Marimba’s platform is widely used to assess the impact of changes in software throughout an organization.

            The ifund could have the same impact on Apple’s iPhone as the Java Fund had on Sun’s Java platform.  The winner isn’t likely to be any one company or group of entrepreneurs, but rather Apple and its iPhone.

            But Apple could discover a very hungry carnivore hiding out in the dark a few months out. That beast is Google’s Android smart phone architecture and when it hits the US market Apple could find itself in hard fight for the life of the iPhone.

            And it’s too early to count out Palm, which has relationships with most of the major carriers and whose base of users and developers is nearly as loyal as Apple’s. Later this year, Palm is expected to roll out a new version of its Palm OS.

            Let’s see, who do I trust more, Apple or Google? Can I ask the cannibals to dine somewhere else?—Jim Forbes 03/14/2007.

Lenovo's ThinkPad X300--Setting a New Standard with World Class Features

Santa came early this year, dropping off a Lenovo ThinkPad X300 with a dual core processor, smd a 64GB SSD integrated drive. A

Right off the top, I’m impressed and will go out on a limb and predict that the X 300 could become the standard against which future generations portable computers aimed at executive and other “power users“, will be judged.

I like the X300’s size: 12.5” x 9.1” x 0.92” (at its thickest point). Equipped with a three cell battery and an integrated DVD burner drive, the X300 weighs a feathery 3.13 pounds. The size and weight of this new ThinkPad combine to make it one of the least intrusive notebooks I’ve ever tested. In fact for the first several days I carried the X300, I had to remind myself occasionally that it was nestled safely in my backpack. It’s that unobtrusive. Furthermore, it’s form factor lends itself to the notion that it’s a great replacement for the ubiquitous and notepads you see executives bring to meetings. It’s capabilities enhance this notion.

In order to write what I think is a comprehensive review of the X300, I’ve used it exclusively for the last four days under a variety of conditions, including a short flight and outside amidst the clutter of an extensive remodel/addition project at my home. Over four days I’ve run through numerous battery charge/discharge cycles, used the X 300 on a variety of wireless networks, and schlepped this stylish machine in my very ugly, but utilitarian, backpack all over two major college campuses.

I like the fit and finish of the X300 a great deal. It’s a very rugged portable and it incorporated new roll cage that helps to protect your investment in this $3,000-plus notebook and the data stored in its Solid State and hard disk drives. The X300 supports both a track stick pointer and a track pad cursor controller.

The X300’s full-size keyboard is a dream to use for extended periods. Despite my oafishly large hands and fingers, I can pound away on the X300’s keyboard for hours on end with no discomfort or cramping. Furthermore. The finish of the keys on the X300 has been enhanced to help the lettering on the keys last 3 to four times longer than previous ThinkPad keyboards. Lenovo’s use of a new textured (rubber) paint on the X300’s palm rest is the sort of touch you come to expect from the ThinkPad design team.

The overall user experience with the X300 is first rate. One of the first things I noticed was that it booted up much faster than the X40 and X60 family subcompacts I’ve used for the last year. Moreover, the 64 GB Solid State Drive (SSD) lets you run multiple applications without incurring the penalty associated with electro-mechanical hard disk drives.

One of the real improvements found in the X300 is a backlit LCD, which reduces eye strain when you use the system in low light settings like class rooms., conference and other settings. The X300’s 13.3-inch LCD drives a WXGA 1440 by 900 pixel display with 128 dots per inch saturation. It’s the best display I’ve ever seen in any of the approximately 80 small form factor notebooks I’ve reviewed since 1992. There are two other attributes on this machine which set it apart from the other thin and light now on the market (the MacBook Air): the first is it’s built in optical disk (which lets you watch and burn DVDs; the second is the availability of an optional second battery that its in the same slot as the optical disk. With its scond battery in place and a six cell power pack in its battery well. The X300 should deliver a first rate coast to coast computing experience with enough power to spare to listen te your music or watch your favorite DVD.

I really appreciate the new entertainment features on the X300. So did the fellow baby boomer sitting beside me in the economy seat on a recent flight. He said “Hey man, I saw the Doobies perform that tune at the Farewell Concert in Berkley years ago.”

I slid my x300 to his tray and offered him my headphones. “Yup that ‘s how I remember their sound,” he said

Amen, brother.

One of my personal dreams over the last six years has been a concept called “pervasive computing.” (persistent wireless connectivity via WiFi, WWAN or other untethered media). The X300 delivers on this dream in spades, extending it to peripherals through its use of wireless USB. Although wireless peripherals are just now becoming available, you can expect to see this capability as a standard capability in most new peripherals in the coming year.

What the X300 doesn’t do is deliver persistent connectivity in a small highly functional package that drains batteries in minutes. I was amazed to note that the six-cell primary battery pack consistently delivered about 5.3 hours of power without umy reverting to extreme power management.

Lenovo isn’t the first notebook company to deliver a thin lightweight portable. In fact this is the second run for this form factor. In the late 1990’s I reviewed a number of thin and lights from manufacturers such as Mitsubishi, Hewlett Packard and Sharp. Unfortunately, those machines lacked sufficient battery life and most ended up classed dismissively as “executive jewelry.” before they were discontinued.

The X300 is one of the first 21^st Century notebooks I’ve seen that has a feature set that will stay in step with most users’ needs for a long time to come. The X300 can put a hard lock on your data and has such a strong set of communications capabilities that’s it’s almost impossible to imagine ever being anywhere where you couldn’t connect to the Internet (even if that means you had to use an optional USB modem for dial-up.

ThinkPad X300 also comes standard with a 1.3 Mpixel camera in the bezel above its screen and an integrated digital microphone. The combination really enhances video conferencing on Skype and other VOIP/integrated messaging services. Th X300 has three USB ports, gigabyte Ethernet, external microphone and audio jacks and an external video port.

In summary, Lenovo’s X300 has the technology to set a new portable computing standard and the capabilities and power to make short shrift of any computing task, whether it’s performed in a conference room, an airplane cabin flying from Tedium to Apathy, or on a cluttered job site like the addition I’m building here at my home in rural northern San Diego County. It’s not just a safe decision, it’s a technologically savvy and very secure investment.--Jim Forbes 02/25/2008.

{Mandatory disclosure: in the 1990’s I was a member Of IBM’s mobile advisory council.}

My List of Great Demo 2008 Companies Continues to Grow

I came home from Demo 2008, took two Tylenol for a blown out left knee and promptly went to bed; for almost a full day. Now that I can hobble around ising my trusty five year old shillelagh It’s time to finish my thoughts on a couple of the companies I saw at Demo this week.

            First up is Education.com’s School Finder. A product I wish I had access to in 2002 when my beautiful daughter, the lovely Miss Amanda, was getting ready to go away to college.  School Finder is a parent’s dream: it lets you match your kids’ needs to college offerings and the local environment. When School Finder goes live in about two months, it will have information on about 100,000 public and private schools. I was impressed by this start-up’s deep well of information on various colleges and their locations.  I quickly realized how valuable this site and tool would have been back in 2002, when (based on bad advice) she chose a Boston area women’s university whose classes were seldom transferable. School Finder is just one of Education.com’s offerings. It also offers modest on-line tutoring, and electronic learning. This site already has great traffic numbers. The addition of School Finder to its offerings will bolster both its position and usefulness, creating even more unique visitors. I think Education.com and School Finder may be one of the jewels of Demo 2008.  I really wish it had been around five years ago, when I was a parent trying to help my soon to fledge daughter pick a college that met her needs and expectations.  Oh, prior to moving to go to school in Boston, my daughter had never experienced a real snowstorm.

            I’m a sucker for mobile applications and Ribbit’s Amphibian, a web telephony application made me realized just how important the personal information provided in our profile information files have become when we connect with friends or potential business associates on the phone. Imagine getting a phone call from a potential client and suddenly being presented with personal information from their FaceBook page. I understand the need to connect with people in order to sell or convince someone of a value proposition, and Ribbit’s Amphibian is the first example I’ve seen of an application that gives me access to someone’s web presence, while I’m talking with them on my mobile phone.

            It’s this type of application that highlights the need for new mobile phone plans that offer affordable internet access as part of business or high-minute plans. I believe that platforms like Ribbit and apps like Amphibian also work best with cell phones with large screens, which facilitate more complete information displays.

            CellSpin is another mobile-based application I liked at Demo 08. This startup is one of the several companies that have been in development for almost two years. What CellSpin does that’s unique is it allows you to post and synchronize you posts to multiple outlets with an absolute minimum of user intervention. For example, if you wanted to post something to Blogger, eBay, FaceBook, Flickr, Live Journal, Picassa or YouTube, you could do so with a minimum of clicks and all your files would be automatically synchronized. Of all the products at Demo 08, I had the most experience with CellSpin. I like its ultra clean interface, and its promise of simultaneously posting virtually all media types (including video and audio) to multiple sites with one or two clicks.

            I love great mobile technology and Skyfire, a downloadable browser for mobile phones just knocked my socks off. My ongoing complaint with the Internet experience on so-called phones is that it just plain sucks. I’ve sat by and waited, and waited for freaking ever for some pages to load on various smart phones and in many cases just walked away from the experience rather than endure the tedious experience of taking advantage of the web on cell phone. Skyfire changes that. I was blown away by this company’s pavilion-demonstration that after only two minutes left me wishing that my antique cell phone would support the Skyfire browser.

            Unlike other browsers for mobile phones, Skyfire supports dynamic Flash, Ajax and Java technologies, which allows smart phones running this new browser to deliver a desktop-like computing experience.

            If there was one technology and company from Demo 08 that is worth watching, it’s Skyfire.

            A quick note pertaining to CellSpin and Skyfire.  Both of these companies are tying their success to third-party cellular networks and smart phone manufacturers. It’s one thing to develop and introduce a product with obvious advantages and little cost adders and an altogether different thing to score a huge win with that product.

            The problem here is that start-ups are ill equipped to navigate the treacherous rocks and shoals that provide safe harbor for key decision makers that can guarantee and provide a safe birth in this industry segment.

            What I’ve seen over the years is a long line of entrepreneurs network with B-School buddies who work for telcos, thinking such people will become their allies in driving adoption.  The problem with this thinking is the ultra conservative nature of telco management.  That B-school chum who is your champion may have a sexy title, but the  reality is not very promising: the champion’s name on an org chart is five cells off center and at least as many levels down from the decision makers and check signers.

            There are at least three domestic cellular network companies that appear to be aggressively courting new technologies: AT&T, Sprint and Verizon immediately come to mind. I rank Sprint at the top of this list followed by Verizon and AT&T.

            Well, I’ve run out of time for this post, so up on ForbesonTech it goes.—Jim Forbes, recovering from my favorite technology show, Demo on 1/31/2008.

{ mandatory disclosure, I am a retired producer of Demo shows as well as the editor of the printed and electronic versions of DemoLetter. I have no fiduciary or other ties with Demo, or any of its parent organizations. But I am one of the few people who has run a Demo show and sat through thousands of meetings with companies during the selection process of the show.  There, I’ve said it. I’m still proud of it—jmf}