1-800-FREE-411

Remember when 411 calls were free? Those days are gone — now it can cost up to $3.49 for an information call. In spite of the cost, there are billions of these calls made per year. I admit it — I avoid calling 411. It’s not that I can’t afford it — it’s a matter […]

DEMOfall 2005

The Demo conferences allow entrepreneurs to show off new gadgets, software, hardware and business ideas. It has always been my favorite conference and DEMOfall 2005 did not disappoint. Sixty-five companies showed their stuff and, although there were some cases of companies showing solutions looking for problems, there were a lot of impressive ideas and plans. […]

Conference Update (and Microsoft comments)

The conference circuit took no summer break (see engagement calendar) and is now in full swing for the balance of the year. Next week begins with DEMOfall in Huntington Beach, California. The Demo conferences are always my favorites because there is so much technology on display and you can have open dialogue with the creators […]

Disasters And The Gift Of Knowledge

Natural and unnatural disasters have been happening for all of recorded time. The common element to all disasters that I can remember has been the incredible outpouring of assistance from not only immediate neighbors of those affected, but also from strangers thousands of miles away. The assistance comes in the form of money, people opening […]

Just Enough Is Good Enough

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has decided that all state departments and organizations should use open standards for their documents. Specifically, the open standard to be backed by the Commonwealth is OpenDocument. The OpenDocument standard, developed by OASIS, is short for the "OASIS Open Document Format for Office Applications". It is a file format for saving […]