Amazing Storm...

I'm not speaking of the financial, housing, banking, or business storms, I'm talking about the ice one that just finished hitting New England this weekend.

Over the last few days my family and our community have been recovering from a very damaging storm. Look at how much ice accumulated in a 8 hour period:



The night of the storm was incredibly loud. It was impossible to sleep because every time you got to the point where you'd doze off, a tree would break and it would startle you because it sounded like it was falling right near your house. (Here were my twits)

I live in an established neighborhood so the trees around us have been around a while. It was amazing to see how the additional layers could bring them to their breaking point. There wasn't anything that they could have done; they were at the mercy of the storm. The look and feel of our neighborhood will suffer.

Now that the storm is over, in its wake is the clean up. Here is a pile I built up from my backyard.

I'd ask a neighbor for help but since they were also impacted, I had to handle the care and load on my own. It was good exercise but getting it done took much longer than expected.

Overall I took a lot of good out of the storm. I got to spend time with the family in ways I couldn't have created myself and it isn't everyday you boil water in your fireplace or listen to PBS on the radio.

It felt good to step back to a day when life was simpler.

5tacos

Give Thanks...

I wished a bunch of friends a Happy Thanksgiving today and most of the responses I got were to have the same.

I'm thankful everyday for what's going on in and around my walk in life. Some of the things I'll be most thankful this year are:

- health & safety of my family
- my mind
- the ability to be helpful to others

There are more but those are core to me. I couldn't move the way I do without knowing my family is safe and healthy. I don't even know where I'd be without my mind. Being a helpful creative type, I am extremely thankful for the ability to help others whether it be in business, life, or financially. I enjoy that so much.

I hope everyone has a great day celebrating things they are thankful for.

5tacos

Get your Sketch On!!

I'm not sure how long its been out but I just stumbled on Google's new 3D drawing application called, "SketchUp".

I downloaded and trialed it out today and all I can say is, it is very, very cool. I'm not an architect or mechanical engineer and you don't have to be in order to enjoy this application. It is extremely easy to use and their tutorials are easy to follow in order to get going quickly.

I showed it to a friend and she said, "all my engineer friends can kiss their years of experience using other drawing software goodbye".

Go check it out and if its not something you want to use, I'm sure someone you know will.

5tacos

Second time I've held off blogging

Its been over a month since the last time I posted and there are good reasons, mostly medical.

I've been through my spell of medical attention so it wasn't me, it was my wife. While everything has been going on I didn't feel it necessary to hop on blogger and update, although I have remained active on Facebook and Twitter. Actually for a while there I was enjoying the limitation of 140 characters since it meant I didn't need to have a long post in order to throw something up on the web. A pure benefit of Twitter.

I'm about 90% back and so I am now turning my attention back to writing down my thoughts.

With so much going on I'm not sure where to start so over the next few days you'll begin to see more posting. It will be nice to be back sharing my thoughts about the paths in which I walk.

It's good to be back.

5tacos

No Innovation...??

Did we go wrong somewhere? Have we forgotten what its like to innovate?

I'm not talking personally, I'm talking industry wise. I'm not picking on any industry in particular but it seems that unless your "GREEN" right now, you aren't innovating.

So I'll ask again, where have we gone wrong? Or better yet, did we go wrong?

I don' get it. Consumers are demanding new products, new approaches to the same, lower cost items, more efficient products, better emotional connections, and the list goes on. With the habits of consumers changing in such a big way, why aren't we innovating more? Have we become afraid of risk? I can't see how too much risk would impair innovation with the cost of developing something being so low.

So other than green tech, how do you see companies innovating for the consumer?

5tacos

Next Gen Wii? & Best Product Development quote…

First and foremost, a “next generation Wii platform” just doesn’t sound right. It is already a game changer (Casual Games Market) and has put a lot of pressure on Sony and Microsoft to compete.

I can only imagine what will be in the next version. Maybe a full body motion suit that interacts with the game? Whatever it will be, it’s going to be interesting.

Now to the quote:

Satoru Iwata, Wii platform president says, “We only turn something into a product after it’s been thoroughly vetted INSIDE the company”.

I don’t care what anyone says, this is rule number 1. Inventing products that you do not use yourself is stupid. I posted earlier about pricing products you don’t use and I think this fits the same bill. If you aren’t using your own products, how do you know how good or bad they are? How do you know what price to set when you don’t understand its value to YOU?

If this is how Nintendo approaches product creation, I would have to say it is a good reason why they have been able to take a lead in the console space so quickly.

They are their own customers.

5tacos

Relating to everyone with your ideas...

This hits an emotion that you, and possibly everyone else you've ever met, gets enjoyment out of.

All I can say is, "this is FRIGGIN brilliant".

5tacos

"Pass the TP"

Mike Michalowicz's "Toilet Paper Entreprenuer" description from "The Big Idea Blog".

This is one of my favorites:

Slant Toward Premature Action – Do not wait for the perfect conditions to start or expand your business. Taking action early is better than taking action too late. And don’t be nervous about these lean times we are experiencing right now. This is the perfect time to start a business. With everyone waiting until the economy is ripe, the startup competition is almost non-existent.

Let's get building!!

5tacos

Thanks...

Brad Garlinghouse.

Seth Godin's newly coined word, "Clowd"...

With Seth's new word...I think he summarizes the times ahead of us in quite a unique way.

Things just keep getting better and better.

5tacos

Decisions made by non-users

I heard a speaker say one time that if you were over 35, you had no clue how to handle the demands of the next generation technology user.

I couldn't agree more and I am north of 35, albeit just by a tiny bit.

If a "leader" who is making decisions that effect the end-user (the CUSTOMER) isn't using the technology like the customer (texting, consuming video, using a converged mobile device, sharing via their social network, using web applications, and/or active in some form of community) I don't think they should be making decisions regarding how to charge for services.

If you aren't using the technologies you're customers purchase from you, then how can you appropriately understand it? If you don't understand it, you shouldn't be allowed to make decisions regarding it.

5tacos

No Femto Needed? Who said that!

Just finished commenting on Jeff Pulver's post, No Femto Cells needed in my home. WiFi UMA works just fine.

I don't agree with his take on not needing femto in the home. I would have made a different purchase decision.

5tacos

Here I am

Where have I been??

My last post asks the same question but it has nothing to do with location but more with attention.

I haven't posted in two months, which is completely outrageous. All I can say is "busy is an understatement". I can't even start to nail down where all of my attention has gone.

I'm making a commitment to get back up on the horse. It's not that writing has become an issue, it's just I have so many projects in the air that blogging sort of got prioritized down. It doesn't help that my business building activities have increased. There will be more of that coming soon.

For now though, I just want to say hello again and sorry for taking so long to post.

Where in the world is Phive Tacos?

I wish I knew sometimes...jeeze I'm busy.

Will post after I get through this tunnel.

5tacos

Do you see what Google sees?

Google gets its cable.

With all the purchasing of dark fiber, moving into the comms space, open network for Android, mobile advertising, and on and on and on...it makes me wonder what they see.

Whenever Google does something, there is a reason for it. I'd like to think this is them broadening their reach, again, in order to retain all the value in providing the worlds information to us.

They will own the entire internet experience conversation.

5tacos

They are stumped! That stumps me.

I’ve been thinking about Mike Masnick’s “Companies baffled by iPhone Success" post all weekend long. How does a panel of experts get stumped by the iPhone? Can anyone verify if any of them had an iPhone? I bet you none did and that’s probably why they don’t understand it, they aren’t active users.

All you need to understand about the iPhone is what it gives to the end user. I could rattle off the video, pictures, internet and/or telephone options but that’s not what I’m referring to. Had they had one they would have seen firsthand what I feel is the most important item the iPhone delivers the end user; a similar PC based web experience.

It’s the full version web in your hand. Your online life now goes wherever you go and how you experience that online life at your desk or home is no different on your mobile device. This is exactly why the mobile web is in an explosion right now. It’s so hot; it surprised the king almighty, Google.

The consumer web experience is changing and devices like the iPhone only speed up the inevitable.

5tacos

Change...

Not that many people are watching TV nowadays but if you are, pay attention to the commercials played. Why would anyone want to do that? Well, if you do view, you will see how commercials have changed in their look and feel. Company logos have “reflections”, some share iPhone music, but mostly what I see are products being advertised using 2.0 practices. The most noticeable ones are Pepsi and the NFL.

The second wave of the web has transformed businesses, it’s apparent. Companies are selling and promoting their products much differently than they did 5 years ago. Social media has had a significant impact on marketing and the way people interact with a product. Who doesn’t have a blog? BK is using “Punkd” to show how consumer react when they are told the Whopper is no longer on the menu.

When a blue chip company like Pepsi changes their advertising to reflect the new web, we have reached a point of no return. Advertising will continue to be shaped using social media and how users interact with the new web but most importantly, it means the new web is here and nothing going forward will be the same.

Mindsets have changed.

5tacos

Develop for Everyone

When you envision your products and who will use them, do you take into account how much technology your users may have at their disposal? Are you relying on social networks to carry the brunt of your “marketing” efforts? These questions came to mind when I was at the Web Innovator’s Group Small Dinner, “The Secrets of Social Network Platforms” last week.

As I heard TripAdvisor and Stylefeeder talk about “initial user reactions”, “fun vs. utility”, and “growing users”; I started to wonder if this data could be skewed, seeing that most of their marketing efforts were targeted at Facebook users.

Social network users are not average technology users, I believe them to be medium to high tech users; those with mobile phones, mobile web access, heavy texters, who use multiple web applications and most importantly, have an ear to new products as they are discussed within a social network.

If you are using social networks to carry most of your product message and are only creating products that require users to have a heavy technology understanding, aren’t you leaving out potential users?

When you are creating your next product, don’t leave out those who are unfamiliar with social networking or technology. Create products that you and your mom use because when you build for everyone, it only increases the chances your product will reach critical mass sooner vs. later.

What kinds of products do you think could/would accomplish this?

5tacos

Back in the Saddle Again...

Back in the Saddle Again…

It’s a new year and for the first time in three weeks, I’m updating my blog. I noticed other bloggers left “out of blogging” messages and probably should have done that but I didn’t. Next time I’m out for more than a week, I’ll let you know ahead of time.

My first post of the year is a “this is what I did during vacation” school report thing, so here we go.

I started off with an excellent get-together at betahouse. John, Brian, and Colin threw a great party with plenty of conversations, good company, and most importantly, it allowed me to get to a relaxed point quickly. Jon Resig was telling me all the goodness that he’s up to with jQuery. I spoke with Chris Keller of Fafarazzi and he had me rolling with a couple of one liners. I spent most of my time speaking with Dave Cutler of eatmedia and Mark Doerschlag of Marks Guide about the New England entrepreneur/business scene. We agreed on an area need and left with some action items. As we move forward I’ll be sure to update on our activities.

After that event it was time to prepare for Christmas. I hadn’t done any buying up to this point and usually I’m done but this year I was too busy to get it done. As much as I hated to do it, I did the traditional buying method, “I went to the mall”. That was a headache…next year I’ll find the time to do my shopping online like I typically do.

Christmas morning was a blast. Santa was great to my children and it was a pleasure to watch them opening their gifts. To see their faces when they opened a cool or gift they really wanted. You could see the “joy” it brought them…when is the last time that has happened to you?

My wife and I hosted Christmas dinner at our house and boy was that fun. It was the first time and if we ever do it again, we’ll need better preparation.

At the beginning of the New Year we hosted our 3^rd Annual Ginger Bread Making party for the neighborhood kids. We started this a few years ago as a way to welcome in the New Year with the families on our street. This year we added some adultness to it and had wine and spirits. The parents and kids enjoyed themselves and that is all we hoped for.

To top off vacation, my son and I took some snowboarding lessons. I’ve only skied throughout the years but since my son wanted to learn snowboarding, I decided to do it with him. I picked it up quickly and was cruising the bunny slopes with ease on the first day. I fell more than a few times and my body felt it for a couple of days afterward.

So all in all I had a great time off. I got to do some networking, learned something new, spent time with my family and most importantly refreshed myself for 2008.

I’m looking forward to another exciting year.

5tacos