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January 2008

The Archives

01.23.08

Drove a Telsa - Some Surprises, but Awesome Opinion | (2)
Tonight, I drove a Tesla around the Four Seasons "complex" in Palo Alto. As a 6'5" lanky guy, my expectations were low about comfort. I was pleasantly surprised when I slipped behind the wheel in relative comfort. First, the care itself looks amazing. It's about the size of an Audi TT, but lower to the ground. When you pop the gas lid open, a plug glows with bright LEDs. How cool is that? Second, you touch the door, and it pops open. Nice. It's a long way down to the seat, but it's definitely a comfortable ride for ...
01.22.08

The Front Lines of a Recession Opinion | (0)
A friend of mine that runs a fairly high profile consumer goods company. Here is what he wrote about being on the front lines of currency devaluation, inflation, and the "R word": Well here is the news from the front lines regarding inflation at the micro level: We have increased some prices, and now when setting prices are setting them higher than usual in anticipation of marginal pressure from retailers and a global slowdown.Â We are also trying to decrease inventories, slowing down our purchasing. We are extremely concerned about RMB appreciation, a driving force of the above.Â Â This will cause tremendous, maybe ...
01.21.08

Simple and Visionary Ideas City of the Future | (0)
The idea of harnessing sail power for traditional needs of global shipping is simple, yet visionary.
01.20.08

Transportation - Part 1 City of the Future | (3)
A friend recently commented on my proposal to limit transportation in the City of the Future project on a private mailing list. The dialogue has been on my mind, so I will share it: [Friend] A utopia for knowledge workers without cars?!? Who wants to live without a car?! Isn't a car the icon of personal freedom?! Suggest not pinning your vision on taking away one of the objects people desire most! What is wrongÂ with cars anyway?! [Response] Personal transportation is a bad ideal, like many short-sighted inventions of the 20th century â€“ electric refrigeration, dish washers, etc. The 20th century ...
01.20.08

Office:mac 2008 - Entourage Update Opinion | (0)
On Friday, Andy Ruff, Lead Program Manager for Entourage at Microsoft, called to discuss the database import issue that I was experiencing when moving from Entourage 2004 to 2008. Before getting into any details on the "solution," it was very impressive that Andy took the initiative to contact me, especially while working at a large company like Microsoft. As a result, I am going to give Entourage a second chance (in a limited capacity, of course). Apparently, Microsoft updated the "database" file structure in 2008 with a goal of making the system more "open." The solution to fix a ...
01.16.08

The Collective Mind can Build Great Things City of the Future | (1)
Scientists excavate a gigantic colony to see what a collective consciousness is capable of creating. Fascinating. Hopefully, the City of the Future project will have such grand results...
01.16.08

The $10 per Gallon World City of the Future | (0)
We are already living in a $10 per gallon of gasoline world. Did that get your attention? Here are some things to think about: The average yield of gasoline per barrel of oil differs widely based on the quality of the oil (logical), ranging from 5% to 30% of the 42 gallons in a barrel when using straightforward conversion methods. The price per barrel of oil that you read about is normally the "good stuff" (Texas or Arabian grade), yielding over 12 gallons of gasoline per barrel and as much as two thirds in prime conditions. If you are just getting 12 ...
01.16.08

Office:mac 2008 - AVOID, AVOID, AVOID Opinion | (5)
Nutshell = Bad. I made the mistake of running out and getting Office:mac 2008 on the hope that Entourage would finally work with Exchange. First, you are plagued with "Comparability Mode" that makes the suite terrible on a PC. Now it is also terrible on a Mac. Second, Entourage immediately tried to import my email and corrupted the email "database." I have over 75,000 emails from 2 years archived in the Entourage "database" format - corrupted. Lovely. 9 hours later and numerous attempts at trying to restore my archive (while doing other things, of course, as each attempt takes ~1 hour), ...
01.15.08

"City of the Future" Project City of the Future | (24)
My next full-time project is to develop a collective panning solution for the "City of the Future." What will the city be called? Where will it be located? How will it work? Rather than trying to answer these important questions as a small group of ordained "planners," my vision is to develop a system that allows anyone and everyone to participate. The greatness of the human condition is not limited to an ordained few, but woven throughout the tapestry of all kinds. So too, I believe that the some of the greatest ideas will come from some of the ...
01.15.08

Scaling and the Media - Part 2 TheFunded.com | (2)
TheFunded.com is now capturing a significant amount of media attention, and it is becoming more and more time consuming, as anyone might imagine. See my previous post on this matter. Below is some of the recent media attention: BusinessWeek - Article 1, Article 2, Blog 1, Blog 2 San Jose Mercury News BBC World MSNBC Fox News So, how am I managing it? To be fair, it is going "OK." Here is my analysis: Time Demands: It is taking half a "normal" work week, about 30 hours per week, to mange the media opportunities alone. Time requirements come in different forms: interviews, follow-up questions, introductions, photo shoots, ...

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