This weekend I can
1) Go to Seattle Mind Camp again and meet Scoble, Winer, and lots of otheres
2) Go to Smalltalk Solutions and hear about how Avi and Andrew launced DabbleDB
3) Go to Stanford and do Startup School.
I choose 3. Tough choice. Of course, there was nothing going on last week, or next week. I wish these people would coordinate.
Based on the BS review I got from my very clueless manager yesterday, I’m pretty ready to chuck that and join something new and interesting.
Cringely has a great article on Paul Allen and his efforts to distance himself from Microsoft. Of course, the real kicker is this:
My reason for bringing up this topic at this time is because it will all shortly be back in the news as Microsoft goes to court later this year in what might well be its last-ever anti-trust trial. Remember those 19 states and the District of Columbia that settled over time for software vouchers and promises from Microsoft to no longer do evil? Well only Iowa remains, represented by a lady lawyer from Des Moines named Roxanne Conlin whom I have met. Roxanne is not in any way impressed with Microsoft vouchers, no matter how many there are. Looking for real money for the people of Iowa, Ms. Conlin is about to dredge-up all this old news and put a new spin on it.
Based purely on character (or lack of it), I confidently predict that Microsoft is going down. It should be interesting.
We can only hope.
I got “volunteered” to be a judge a the local elementary school’s science fair – featured projects from grades 1-4. I like it because it feeds my inner geek and I like teaching kids stuff. I also like being surprised at the ingenuity of some of these kids. My fave? A couple of fourth grade boys who created the SparkBrush(tm). Its basically a toothbrush with an attachment that comes out of the handle, loops around the front and has a flashlight bulb/switch/battery – so you can brush your teeth in the dark.
The invention may or may not be a hit – but what I loved was the enthusiasm of the inventors. They had scale drawings on graph paper – not just of the final device, but of the original idea, then some refinements, and then finally a working prototype. The photos and explanations were worthy of Make magazine. They even had a circuit diagram. These guys rock.