2008/02/27

Breakfast with NAVTEQ's CEO in Chicago


Judson Green, the CEO of NAVTEQ, gave a fantastic presentation on 26 February 2008 about his business background and some insight into the culture of NAVTEQ and where they're headed now that they've been acquired by Nokia.

His presentation was given on the 66th floor of Chicago's Sears Tower to a large group consisting mostly of young business professionals during an event called "Breakfast With NAVTEQ's CEO." The event was hosted and organized by World Business Chicago and the Young Professionals of Chicago.

TECHcocktail included a blurb about the event in one of their periodic emails that I'm subscribed to. I'm highly interested in NAVTEQ and what GPS and LBS (location-based services) hold for the future, especially in terms of innovation and start-ups that will be proliferating in the LBS arena over the next few years. The convergence of enjoyable web surfing on cell phone-size devices, e.g. the iPhone, and ubiquitous GPS devices will inevitably lead to useful, interesting and invasive applications that consumers, companies and government agencies will quickly learn to love and wonder how they got along without them. I wanted to meet the CEO of NAVTEQ, hear what he had to say and maybe meet a few other entrepreneurial or tech types with an interest in topics related to NAVTEQ.

Judson Green is one of the most entertaining and straightforward business speakers I've heard. He's not a technology person, but is rather a business person who happens to run a technology company that's positioned to make a huge impact over the next five to ten years. Because of his business background and focus, the presentation didn't get deep into the technology issues. Instead Judson explained how he got from starting to learn piano at the age of 3 1/2 to being in top management in Disney, including being in charge of starting up Disneyland Resort, Paris, sometimes referred to as EuroDisney. When he decided to leave Disney, he had a number of opportunities. Because he believed in the potential market for GPS devices and services, and because he knew he could build an effective team to turn around a sound but poorly-managed company, he accepted the job of CEO for NAVTEQ in 2000 when it was losing $50+ million per year. One of the things Judson did after joining NAVTEQ was bring the company from Silicon Valley to Chicago. He felt the business costs and the cost of living were sufficient incentive to leave the entrepreneurial tech center of the world. Being centered in Chicago also makes it easier for NAVTEQ not to have too strong of a European focus or Asian focus, which he thought being located on one of the US coasts would lead to. Judson thinks the Midwest USA is a great place for tech companies to locate and sees great things ahead for the tech economy in this area.

In 2005, Judson led NAVTEQ through a $2 million IPO. The company is currently in the process of being acquired by Nokia. Since Nokia is the leading cell phone manufacturer in the world, and has chosen to not focus on the US market, NAVTEQ will have some great opportunities to be a leader in the GPS/LBS markets in Europe, Asia and other places where the cell phone is the primary means of accessing the internet. This will enable and force them to develop mapping services that might not otherwise happen if they were primarily focused on the US and were a US public company.

One aspect of NAVTEQ I didn't fully understand prior to Judson's presentation is their focus on location-based content, rather than location-based services. The company's goal is to provide as much accurate mapping information as possible. It is then the job of NAVTEQ's customers to organize, manipulate, mash up and present that data to consumers.

It will be cool if we can put together an opportunity for some of the enthusiastic tech people from NAVTEQ to participate in Wisconsin geek events such as a Milwaukee Tech Cafe or BarCampMilwaukee. We'll have to do some networking with people or companies who either supply mapping data to NAVTEQ or are direct customers. Because NAVTEQ is a business-t0-business company, they likely participate less in public events like a Tech Cafe than a company like Adobe or Amazon is, but if the right people are involved, it should be interesting and worthwhile to NAVTEQ to let some of their tech people participate in the event.

In addition to hearing Judson at the breakfast, I had the opportunity to meet Jason Fried of 37Signals. He sounded open to the idea of having one or two people from 37Signals participate in a Tech Cafe or barcamp in Wisconsin, so I'll follow up with him on that. Maybe we can get someone from his company to participate in the Amazon Tech Cafe currently planned for 03 Apr 2008, since Jeff Bezos is an investor in 37Signals and Jason appears to like Amazon Web Services.

I also talked with Kye-Anne Wilborn at the breakfast, a vice president for the National Black MBA Association. The association's national headquarters are in Chicago, and Kye-Anne said they might be interested in collaborating on tech or entrepreneurial events in Wisconsin that would be of interest to the NBMBAA.

Judson is a director for both Dreamworks Animation and Harley-Davidson and loves playing jazz piano whenever possible. If we can arrange for an event involving something fun and interesting with one or more of those three topics, perhaps he can be convinced to spend some time in Wisconsin...

P.S. -- If you're passionate about GPS, GIS, location-based content and other areas potentially of interest to NAVTEQ, you may want to contact them about a career with this company that has a fantastic growth and development period ahead of it. It was mentioned at the meeting that they expect to be hiring a significant number of new people in 2008. If Judson fills the NAVTEQ management ranks with people who have the same desire and apparent skill to enable passionate and skilled people to do great things with technology, this would be one fun place to work!
*****

2008/02/26

NEW NET Issues List for 26 Feb 2008

Below is the final list of issues for the TUESDAY, 26 February 2008, NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 pm weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N Westhill Blvd, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

To connect to the NEW NET meeting tonight, head over to Stickam and connect with newnet2, or go on Skype and connect with bwaldron22. You can just watch on Stickam without signing up for an account, but if you want to participate in the NEW NET meeting, you should sign up for a Stickam account -- there's a small "Sign Up" link in yellow text near the top center of the Stickam main page.

The ‘net

  1. Radar Networks takes $13 million, readies Twine for the public http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9877934-7.html
  2. iLike Launches Artist News Stream http://tinyurl.com/yt8w4h (TechCrunch)
  3. Ask.com Binoculars Adds Compete.com Stats http://searchengineland.com/080221-095847.php
  4. The Wisdom of the Chaperones http://slate.com/id/2184487
  5. Japanese satellite provides hyper-speed internet service http://inventorspot.com/articles/japanese_satellite_provide_super_11016
  6. Windows Live SkyDrive launches, but needs a touch of paint http://tinyurl.com/2hfmmd (Ars technica)
  7. AOL ending all support for Netscape on March 1 http://tinyurl.com/ypwb6g (Ars technica)
  8. Now you can outsource your life http://tinyurl.com/yox824 (TheAge.com)
  9. On the Internet, Everyone Can Hear You Complain http://tinyurl.com/37z3jl (NY Times)
  10. 6 Adobe AIR Apps to Check Out http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/some_adobe_air_apps_worth_a_look.php
  11. BricaBox - Social Content Platform http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/bricabox_social_content_platform.php
  12. Yahoo opens up search with web-based solution http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-yahoo-opens-up-search-but-not-far-enough.html
  13. The Brash Programmers at 37signals Will Tell You: KISS http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/16-03/mf_signals

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

  1. The hands-free way to steal a credit card http://www.news.com/8301-10789_3-9875961-57.html
  2. Google-Powered Hacking Makes Search A Script-Kiddie Threat http://tinyurl.com/2rpxkt (InformationWeek)
  3. Domestic surveillance goes on despite expiration of law http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080225-domestic-surveillance-goes-on-despite-expiration-of-law.html

Mobile Computing & Communicating

  1. Nokia Shows Off Nanotech "Morph" Concept Phone http://tinyurl.com/ypszuy (DailyTech)
  2. Will Apple sell 10 M iPhones in 2008? http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/iphone_sales_stunted_too_early_to_tell_aapl
  3. 1st US university to provide all incoming freshmen iPhone or iPod Touch http://www.acu.edu/news/2008/080225_iphone.html

Open Source

  1. Running Debian GNU/Linux from an encrypted USB drive http://www.linux.com/feature/125625
  2. Bank group takes Linux migration a step at a time http://www.linux.com/feature/127173

SkyNet

  1. Google to Store Patients' Health Records http://searchengineland.com/080221-105128.php
  2. Make Google Calendar into PDF http://tinyurl.com/23qoc4 (WebWorkerDaily)
  3. 10 Reasons I Recommend Google Grand Central http://www.promotionworld.com/se/articles/article/08022210reasonswhy.html
  4. Google Becoming a Force in E-Mail Security for Smaller Businesses http://bmighty.com/hardware_software/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206801671
  5. A Beautiful Mind: Microsoft over Google http://seekingalpha.com/article/65908-a-beautiful-mind-microsoft-over-google
  6. Google invests in new undersea cable http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080226-unity-under-the-sea-google-invests-in-new-undersea-cable.html
  7. Googlemail.com address lessens Gmail spam http://lifehacker.com/360524/use-a-googlemailcom-address-to-lessen-gmail-spam

General Technology

  1. Vista SP1 will break these programs or do endless reboots http://tinyurl.com/yukq86 (News.com)
  2. $10 GiFi chip puts Australia on the fast track http://tinyurl.com/2j3fyj (TheAge.com)
  3. New Macs launched: Has Apple found the magic Touch? http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9879471-37.html

Leisure & Entertainment

  1. MS, Nintendo indie games services http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUSN2040857920080221
  2. Nintendo to launch Wii Fit virtual gym http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/feb/20/nintendo
  3. Emotiv brain control consumer headset for gamers http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7254078.stm
  4. The "Tragic" State of PC Gaming http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/006522.html
  5. Star Trek, Twilight Zone, classics beamed onto 'Net http://tinyurl.com/yq9key (Ars technica)
  6. Kurzweil: Exponential change ahead for games, people http://tinyurl.com/yvcesh (News.com)
  7. Massively micro game, 'Bac Attack,' wins design challenge http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9876921-52.html
  8. Wii Pay and Play - one of Nintendo’s cleverest ever moves? http://www.nintendic.com/news/1883
  9. EA free game will earn revenue entirely from advertising http://tinyurl.com/2xawed (TheAge.com)
  10. EA tries to buy Take-Two for $2 billion http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9877637-52.html?tag=nefd.top
  11. 48% of teenagers bought no CDs at all in 2007 http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-music27feb27,1,5116325.story
  12. Amie Street's pricing, social features attract indie artists http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080225-amie-streets-pricing-social-features-attract-artists.html

Economy and Technology

  1. Lessig for Congress http://lessig.org/blog/2008/02/two_announcements.html http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/02/20/lessig/
  2. Networking Groups Aim To Turn L.A. Into Technology Star http://tinyurl.com/2c88w9 (Investors.com)
  3. The Smartest Unknown Indian Entrepreneur http://tinyurl.com/2jgxyy (Forbes)
  4. Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/magazine/16-03/ff_free

Civilian Aerospace

  1. Orbital Wins $171 Space Station Re-Supply Deal http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/080219-sn-cotswinner-orbital.html
  2. First 10 teams for Google $30M moon shot http://tinyurl.com/yqejoj (TechNewsWorld) http://www.news.com/Google-lunar-challenge-gets-under-way/2100-11397_3-6231576.html?tag=ne.fd.mnbc

Supercomputing & GPUs

  1. Intel, Microsoft, Uncle Sam sink big money into multicore http://tinyurl.com/2css7q (Ars technica)
  2. 1 million trillion FLOPS targeted by Institute for Advanced Architectures http://tinyurl.com/2gxfmg (Sandia.gov)
  3. The Landscape of Parallel Computing Research http://view.eecs.berkeley.edu/wiki/Main_Page
  4. CPU designers debate multi-core future http://tinyurl.com/2gkyez (EE Times)
  5. Promise and perils of coming multi-core revolution http://www.ctwatch.org/quarterly/pdf/ctwatchquarterly-10.pdf

*****

2008/02/20

Part III: Virtual Research University Meeting at MTU

This is the third post of a multi-part look at the mutual benefits between a research university and the region 'around' that university. For Part I of this series, see Benefits of Research Universities to Regional Innovation. For Part II of this series, see Virtual Research University for The New North.

On 18 February 2008, a meeting was held at Michigan Technological University (MTU) to discuss the concept and next steps for establishing an effective virtual research university relationship between MTU and the New North.

The virtual research university concept is that today's online communication and collaboration tools enable some regional innovation benefits of a research university to be enjoyed by regions and universities even though the university is not located in that region.

The 18 Feb meeting was held as a result of a number of conversations and teleconferences between New North residents and MTU representatives. The New North benefits from this relationship with MTU because research is done at MTU which is particularly applicable to the existing manufacturing economy and infrastructure in northeast Wisconsin and because the region does not have a research university, especially one focused on advanced manufacturing. MTU benefits from this relationship with the New North because of the good fit with the New North economy, the large number of potential MTU students in the area, and the opportunity to leverage more of its research through connections with the New North.

The agenda for the half-day meeting was as follows:

1PM - Lunch – Advanced Technology & Development Center (ATDC)

1:30PM - Introductions and agenda / objective overview for meetin
g

1:45PM - Concept overview of Michigan Tech as ‘virtual research university’ resource for the New Nort
h

2PM - Resource overview (facilities & equipment)

2:15PM - Faculty Research - common areas of interest

2:45PM - Undergraduate Sponsored Research Enterprise & Senior Design Programs

3:15PM - Overview of Alumni Relations, Corporate Development, and Career Cente
r

3:30PM - Brainstorming and discussion session for collaboratio
n

4PM - Wrap-up at ATDC


4:15PM - Tour resources on campus (facilities, labs, equipment, etc)

Due to weather and prior commitments, only four New North representatives were able to participate in the meeting in Houghton, Michigan, but the meeting went well and all those involved seemed to feel the virtual research university concept is well worth pursuing.

Two next steps that came out of the meeting are:
  1. Schedule a similar meeting in the New North in May 2008 to introduce the virtual research university concept in a location where more New North residents will be able to participate.
  2. Schedule several informal meetings in March and April 2008 in the New North for MTU alumni to discuss this innovation concept and to identify other individuals highly interested in working to establish an effective 'virtual research university' relationship between the New North and MTU.
The only concern I have regarding the 18 Feb meeting is the potential lack of New North focus on driving regional innovation through a strong relationship with a research university. The reason for this lack of focus is sort of a good thing, in that there are many opportunities for beneficial collaboration between the New North and MTU that have little or nothing to do directly with innovation. An example of this is the opportunity for New North companies to become more aware of specific reasons to hire MTU graduates; this won't necessarily drive innovation. My reason for pushing the virtual research university concept and for spending time to make this relationship work is to improve innovation in the region, not to get more MTU grads placed in jobs in the New North, although that's not a bad thing.

Below is a draft of the ways I think a research university can drive innovation in a region:
  1. Commercialize and spin-out IP
    1. Driven by the university
      1. Stanford IP model or similarly startup-friendly IP model
      2. Effective communications related to generated or needed IP (Tech Transfer Office or ?); for every $1 invested in TTO staff, university sees $6+ in licensing income
    2. Driven by region; focus on NN strength and growth areas
      1. Wind energy
      2. Advanced manufacturing
      3. Modern agribiz, including cellulosic bioproducts and other biorefineries
      4. Other?
  2. Faculty recognize opportunity and incentives to be entrepreneurs and to be serial mentors for startups
  3. Grant partnerships with universities, regional companies and individuals
    1. SBIR/STTR
    2. NSF
      1. Office of Cyberinfrastructure & building effective virtual organizations (http://www.ci.uchicago.edu/events/VirtOrg2008/)
      2. Organized collaboration with large prestigious universities, especially MIT and Stanford
    3. DOD, DOE, NIH, etc
  4. Disruptive technologies is primary innovation focus of the university/region relationship rather than incremental technology improvements
  5. Learn from others regarding geographical influence and transitioning from manufacturing economy to knowledge economy
    1. Studies show primary economic impact of university has traditionally been within 15 to 50 miles of the university
    2. University of Michigan conference on university role in transitioning from manufacturing economy to knowledge economy (http://www.urcmich.org/events/engageduniv.html)

If you have comments or suggestions regarding this effort, please consider meeting me for breakfast or coffee sometime! I'd love to talk with you about it...

*****

2008/02/19

NEW NET Issues List for 19 Feb 2008

Below is the final list of issues for the TUESDAY, 19 February 2008, NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 pm weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N Westhill Blvd, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA.

Drew F will be joining us this week to discuss the work he's doing on the subject of innovation networks. If you aren't able to participate in tonight's NEW NET meeting but want to know more about what Drew is doing, contact me and I'll put you in touch with Drew.

The ‘net

  1. Crash: Amazon's S3 utility goes down http://www.roughtype.com/archives/2008/02/amazons_s3_util.php
  2. Jeff Barr: Can anyone stop this man? http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/14/can-anyone-stop-this-man/
  3. Mozilla Announces Mozilla Messaging with Firefox 3 Features http://ascher.ca/blog/2008/02/19/mozilla-messaging/ http://webworkerdaily.com/2008/02/19/mozilla-announces-mozilla-messaging-firefox-3-features-and-we-delight/ “…in Ascher’s blog post he admits what many web workers and Internet enthusiasts know deep in their hearts: email is broken…”
  4. Newspond: News Aggregator Extraordinaire http://mashable.com/2008/02/19/newspond/
  5. Scribd’s iPaper Plan http://gigaom.com/2008/02/19/scribd-ipaper/
  6. Search Engines: Intense Competition Drives Better User Experiences http://www.keynote.com/benchmark/new_media/article_intense_competition.shtml

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

  1. $54 million Best Buy lawsuit stupid, but necessary http://tinyurl.com/2c45jh (Ars technica)
  2. A veto of the FISA bill endangers Americans http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23173388/ “…The House's failure to pass the bipartisan Senate bill would jeopardize the security of our citizens…it will become harder for us to uncover terrorist plots…
  3. Comcast Defends Internet Practices http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gxRiQSVfgK4sLbVRE_X4MOlM9q0AD8UP4VUG3
  4. Virus from China the gift that keeps on giving http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/02/15/BU47V0VOH.DTL “…Deborah Hale at SANS suggested that PC users find friends with Macintosh or Linux machines and have them check for malware before plugging any device into a PC.…”
  5. Error Gave F.B.I. Unauthorized Access to E-Mail http://tinyurl.com/2jbnqa (NY Times)

Mobile Computing & Communicating

  1. Indie coffeehouses tell Starbucks: Bring on your free Wi-Fi http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9062638
  2. The real impact of iPhone and Android http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2023
  3. IPhone Users Are Prodigious Googlers http://www.ft.com/cms/s/667f13de-da60-11dc-9bb9-0000779fd2ac.html
  4. Users' love affair with iPhone stumps MWC panel http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206504012
  5. GPS about finding friends, not route http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080215/tc_infoworld/95366
  6. AT&T and Palm launch the GSM Palm Centro for US$99.99 http://blogs.zdnet.com/mobile-gadgeteer/?p=896

Open Source

  1. Sun Snags Innotek -- Should I Wince? http://informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/02/sun_snags_innot.html
  2. Private equity firm pours $100 million into SCO money pit http://tinyurl.com/33ul5t (Ars technica)
  3. 3D OpenGL Transitions: OpenOffice Impress http://www.oooninja.com/2008/02/eye-candy-3d-opengl-transitions-impress.html
  4. Google funds Photoshop-on-Linux work http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9874297-39.html?tag=nefd.blgs

SkyNet

  1. Google's big bucks back green ideas http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/stories/2008/02/16/google0217.html “…Beavers said every proposal she makes "needs to make sense" financially. That said, none of her energy proposals has been turned down, Beavers added. "The biggest stress of my job is that I'm not doing enough," she said. "One day our CEO told me I'm not making his life difficult enough, basically…”
  2. The real difference between Microsoft and Google http://blogs.zdnet.com/open-source/?p=2025
  3. Easy to Create Your Own Google Earth Layers http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2008/02/google-makes-it.html
  4. The Faces and Voices of Google http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/123/google.html “…No one has built a Google.org before, so we don't have the vocabulary for it. We think of ourselves as a hybrid philanthropy and an experiment….We began with thousands of ideas…We made it a straight-out competition: Show up on Monday armed with your data and your plan--where we'd give grants, where we'd make investments, the outcomes--and prove it. Then we got together and ranked each idea. Does it fit on the scale of changing the world? …”

General Technology

  1. Lenovo X300: Building the Perfect Laptop http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/08_08/b4072042350389.htm
  2. Everex CloudBook Review http://blog.laptopmag.com/everex-cloudbook-mini-review-verdict-needs-more-time-in-the-oven
  3. Borders opens bookshelves to digital services http://www.usatoday.com/tech/products/2008-02-13-borders-downloads_N.htm
  4. Former OLPC CTO predicts a $75 laptop by 2010 http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080215/tc_infoworld/95377
  5. Elon Musk on rockets, sports cars, and solar power http://tinyurl.com/228a32 (News.com)
  6. Microsoft: Free Software to Nurture Future Coders http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9873185-56.html?tag=newsmap

Leisure & Entertainment

  1. Save The Planet With IBM's PowerUp Game http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20080216/tc_cmp/206504424
  2. Spore to go on sale in September http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7242563.stm
  3. EA co-ops Red Alert 3 on PC, 360, PS3 http://www.gamespot.com/news/6186018.html
  4. Wii to Displace Xbox 360 by End of 2008 http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142531-c,gameconsoles/article.html
  5. Apple plans 2GB iPod Shuffle, cuts price on 1GB player http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9874170-7.html?tag=nefd.top
  6. Adobe Director 11 takes aim at video game market http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9871126-7.html?tag=nefd.blgs
  7. Good January for Sony's games business http://www.reuters.com/article/industryNews/idUSN1921471820080219
  8. Magic: The Gathering Coming to Xbox Live Arcade and PC http://kotaku.com/357795/magic-the-gathering-coming-to-xbla

Economy and Technology

  1. Microsoft doesn’t want Yahoo! and Gphone is coming http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080215_004309.html
  2. Study gives 50-50 odds Lake Mead will dry up by 2021 http://www.lvrj.com/news/15581197.html
  3. FEMA trailers toxic, tests show http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-trailers15feb15,1,1726106.story
  4. Wisconsin firm tied to troubled blood drug http://tinyurl.com/2gwnc6 (Chicago Tribune)

Civilian Aerospace

  1. Commercial 'Weightless Flights' Come To Moffett Field http://www.nbc11.com/news/15303187/detail.html
  2. The Rights Stuff http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2008/02/17/the_rights_stuff/
  3. Orbital 4th-Quarter Profit Doubles http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080214/earns_orbital_sciences.html?.v=1

Supercomputing & GPUs

  1. GeForce 8 graphics processors to gain PhysX support http://techreport.com/discussions.x/14147
  2. AMD Searches for an HPC Strategy http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/2134499.html
  3. GPGPU: far more important than you think http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=11725

*****

2008/02/13

FDLLUG, Encryption and Video Streaming

The topic of the FDLLUG meeting (Fond du Lac Linux Users Group) on 13 February 2008 was encryption with Jim L from Madison as the guest speaker.

We tried to make the meeting available on the web with streaming video, but technical difficulties prevented us from getting Stickam to work. The likely culprit is the Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC) firewall or traffic shaping policies. We were able to get the video from the camcorder to the computer, but couldn't get it out onto the web via Stickam. The lesson from this video streaming effort was an old, familiar one -- always check out your a/v equipment prior to a presentation. Or, in this case, check out your web connections and services before a videocast. Because the FDLLUG is a technology-focused group, we may do the check-out at the start of the March meeting as a fun project. But most groups who are more interested in having technology that works than in how the technology works should make sure to do at least one trial run with all the hardware, software and web services before the presentation is scheduled.

If we can't get Stickam to work at during future meetings at MPTC, we'll try Y! Live or one of the other streaming video solutions mentioned in a recent post.

Jim's presentation on encryption was thorough, entertaining and informative. Unfortunately for me, the math was waaaay over my head. In spite of not being able to quickly absorb all the equations he threw at us, however, I enjoyed the talk and learned a few new things about crypto. One of his slides summed up eight basics of cryptography that he wanted us to focus on:


The underlying concept I took away from the meeting is that 'crypto-secureness' of the overall communication system between people or organizations is much more important than whether you have a super-strong 2048 bit encryption algorithm. Regardless of how strong your encryption algorithm is, there are other factors in your communication system that are probably fairly easy to exploit. Jim summed it up nicely with two quotes, the first from Bruce Schneier and the second attributed to an anonymous (of course...) NSA employee.
"There are two kinds of cryptography in this world: cryptography that will stop your kid sister from reading your files, and cryptography that will stop major governments..."

"Real systems are so insecure that the NSA needn't bother breaking the crypto."
Before my next exposure to crypto in a live setting (presentation, barcamp, tech meeting, etc), I need to read "The Codebreakers" by David Kahn (recommended by Jim L after his presentation) and re-read "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson. I'll still be way out of my depth, but at least I'll understand and retain more the next time around.

*****

2008/02/12

NEW NET Issues List for 12 Feb 2008

If you want to join tonight's NEW NET's meeting from a remote location, go onto Stickam and connect to Member newnet2. If you want to participate in the meeting rather than just view it, you'll need to get an account on Stickam and log in. That will allow others viewing the newnet2 video to also see and hear you if you have a webcam and mic hooked up and working properly. If questions, email me at bwaldron [att] gmail {dott} com or connect to me at the same address on Gchat.

Below is the final list of issues for the TUESDAY, 12 February 2008, NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology) 7:00 - 9:00 pm weekly gathering upstairs at Tom's Drive In, 501 N Westhill Blvd, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA. This week's list uses a new numbering system suggested by a NEW NET participant, with sequential numbering irrespective of which category an item falls into. I may use this new number system as a tool to manage the number of items I include on the list, e.g. the top 50 tech issues of the week.

The items immediately below are those chosen arbitrarily as the five from the past week which had the most impact in the tech world, were the coolest new technologies, or were the most unexpected developments. At tonight's meeting we'll discuss whether these five or other ones deserve to be on the Top 5 list for the week.
  1. The Microsoft bid to buy Yahoo.
  2. Seattle becoming a second Silicon Valley.
  3. Digital distractions in vehicles.
  4. Video's impact on ISP traffic control.
  5. Launch of Google Apps Team Edition.


The ‘net

  1. Ex-Googlers Launch Instructional Video Site Howcast http://tinyurl.com/2ydoel (TechCrunch)
  2. FriendFeed: Ex-Googlers Create Social Network Experience Using Feeds http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/friendfeed.php
  3. AT&T Hikes Broadband Rates http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142203-c,broadband/article.html
  4. Students tout WiFi co-ops as alternative to municipal WiFi
  5. Introducing all-you-can-eat web hosting http://ycorpblog.com/2008/02/06/introducing-all-you-can-eat-web-hosting/
  6. Digsby aims to simplify communication; we've got invites http://tinyurl.com/3bq3q6 (Ars technica)
  7. Tiinker is the Anti-Digg http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/tiinker_is_the_antidigg.php
  8. Read The Wall Street Journal For Free http://daggle.com/080209-111358.html
  9. Video chat software introduces recording http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080206/ap_on_hi_te/techbit_video_chat_recorder
  10. Yahoo Live was live, now it’s dead http://www.mathewingram.com/work/2008/02/07/yahoo-live-was-live-now-its-dead/ (also check out Ustream, Qik, Mogulus, Blog.tv, Justin.tv, and Flixwagon)
  11. Citizen Broadcasting At Last, with live.yahoo.com http://developer.yahoo.net/blog/archives/2008/02/citizen_broadca.html
  12. Yahoo intros cellphone svcs, acquires Maven Networks http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/36027/118/ http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/080212/20080212005624.html

Security, Privacy & Digital Controls

  1. Malicious programs hit new high http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7232752.stm
  2. Spammers' bot cracks Microsoft's CAPTCHA http://tinyurl.com/yqj6f8 (Computerworld)
  3. Hacked Antivirus Site Delivers a Virus http://news.yahoo.com/s/pcworld/20080209/tc_pcworld/142318
  4. Demand for Video Reshaping Internet http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5grNBGWli-Sh6_vIAzZIKpqD8N-AQD8UOACN80
  5. Illegal downloaders 'face UK ban' http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7240234.stm

Mobile Computing & Communicating

  1. Modu: modular, multi-function cell phone http://tinyurl.com/276o9r (BusinessWeek)
  2. ARM (and others) plan Gphone demonstration: Mobile World Congress http://www.news.com/8301-13579_3-9866161-37.html
  3. With iPhone, 'Security' Is Code for 'Control' http://tinyurl.com/2mf82q (Wired)
  4. Outfitting the iPhone for business http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20080211/tc_infoworld/95192
  5. Microsoft to buy phone maker Danger http://www.news.com/8301-13860_3-9868954-56.html
  6. Will Xperia X1 Oust iPhone In Mobile Supremacy Battle? http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,142362-c,cellphones/article.html
  7. Nokia vs. Google: The Battle Escalates http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/feb2008/gb20080211_206258.htm
  8. High-Tech Invitations Take Your Mind Off Road http://tinyurl.com/2x7r2l (NY Times)

Open Source

  1. Building an attractive, usable desktop on a budget laptop http://www.linux.com/feature/126177
  2. Moving my mother over to Linux http://www.linux.com/feature/125799
  3. sudo, or not sudo: that is the question http://www.linux.com/feature/125895

SkyNet

  1. Google Launches Localized News Service http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/02/07/google-offers-localized-news-service/
  2. Google Forms: Google Docs for the whole world http://googledocs.blogspot.com/2008/02/stop-sharing-spreadsheets-start.html
  3. Google Apps Team Edition makes using Apps easier http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/news/article.php/3726671 http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080207-google-releases-new-team-edition-application-suite.html

General Technology

  1. Dawn of the digital natives http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/feb/07/internet.literacy
  2. Everex CloudBooks: Touch, 22-inch Screens? http://blog.laptopmag.com/future-cloudbooks-to-have-touch-ssd-22-inch-screens
  3. Polaroid Closing Instant Film Factories http://blogs.pcworld.com/techlog/archives/006464.html
  4. RFID-equipped pickups won't let tools go missing http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2008/02/11/rfid_equipped_pickups_wont_let_tools_go_missing/

Leisure & Entertainment

  1. 'Duke Nukem Forever' confirmed for 2008 on home consoles http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2008/02/04/daily17.html
  2. EA unveils Spielberg's 'Boom Blox' for Wii http://www.news.com/8301-13772_3-9865947-52.html?tag=nefd.only
  3. Doctors use Wii games for rehab therapy http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080208/ap_on_hi_te/wiihabilitation_medicine
  4. Stealth EA Division Creating Games--Social Net Mash-up http://www.gametap.com/home/read/article/3731

Economy and Technology

  1. Seattle Taps Its Inner Silicon Valley http://tinyurl.com/2bco7j (NY Times)
  2. Microhoo: The Men Behind the Curtain http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080208_004240.html
  3. Microsoft's Colossal Strategic Mistake http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/2/microsoft__yahoo_will_be_our__google_apps_
  4. Deposit checks from home http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5j1DHd5Pp6FSPNwQcZFysC8lMNV2QD8ULALFO0
  5. GM Posts $38.7B Loss for 2007 http://tinyurl.com/2oy26o (Wall Street Journal)
  6. Exxon Mobil Profit Sets Record: $40.6 B in 2007 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/business/01cnd-exxon.html?hp
  7. An Engineer's View of Venture Capitalists http://www.flownet.com/gat/eng-vc.html
  8. First Lawsuit Filed In Microsoft-Yahoo Deal http://tinyurl.com/2hxw8w (WebProNews)
  9. Silicon Valley Recruiters Zero In On Yahoo Employees http://tinyurl.com/2xy9on (CNN Money)

Civilian Aerospace

  1. Colorado offers launchpad for space business ventures http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_8212849
  2. Update on Scaled Composite explosion investigation http://tinyurl.com/ypvu2z (San Francisco Gate)
  3. Building a Base on the Moon: Part 2 - Habitat Concepts http://tinyurl.com/28tsjl (Universe Today)
  4. UW student speaks about his experiences at the Mars Desert Research Station http://tinyurl.com/2gcvwe (Univ of Waterloo)
  5. The New Space Age: Living on Mars http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=4262966&page=1
  6. Next space tourist and his backup start training in Russia http://en.rian.ru/russia/20080206/98532846.html
  7. ISS tourism trips to end with April 2009 flight? http://tinyurl.com/29upzn (Flight Global)

Supercomputing & GPUs

  1. GPGPUs: Neat Idea or Disruptive Technology? http://tinyurl.com/3bxvka (Scientific Computing)
  2. Parallel Processing With CUDA http://www.mdronline.com/watch/watch_Issue.asp?Volname=Issue+%23012808&on=1#item2
  3. High-throughput sequence alignment using Graphics Processing Units http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2105/8/474/abstract
  4. The Next Challenge in High Performance Computing http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/2111454.html
  5. NSF Requests $6.85 Billion for Fiscal Year 2009 http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/2111369.html

*****

2008/02/11

Part II: Virtual Research University for The New North

This is the second post of a multi-part look at the mutual benefits between a research university and the region 'around' that university. For Part I of this series, see Benefits of Research Universities to Regional Innovation.

A date has been set -- 18 February 2008 -- for the first 'official' meeting to develop virtual research university resources for the New North (18 counties of northeast Wisconsin, USA).

The 18 February meeting will involve participants from the New North (NN) and Michigan Technological University (MTU) and will be held in Houghton, Michigan, USA. There is a winter job fair at Michigan Tech on 19 February, so it seemed appropriate to have the NN/MTU meeting the day before the job fair. This will leverage the presence of New North companies who are on campus to participate in the job fair or who might be interested in going up to Houghton to check out the job fair.

The initial meeting is designed to be an informal discussion about the concept of developing virtual research university resources that will benefit both the New North and Michigan Tech. Discussion between representatives of the New North and Michigan Tech on this topic will be valuable because:
  1. There are not widely known models to follow for this type of collaboration.
  2. The meeting will serve as 'market research' to help understand what benefits each group needs to make the relationship worth developing and maintaining.
Two concepts for the meeting participants to keep in mind during the meeting are:
  1. Research universities are often primary drivers of innovation in the region surrounding the university.
  2. Previous research into the innovation and economic impact of universities suggests the impact of those universities is negligible outside a 15 or 50 mile radius, with the distance and impact varying depending on which study you read.
The first concept above is important for the 18 February meeting because the bulk of the meeting should focus on those factors which cause a research university to drive innovation in the region it serves. These factors involve spin-out of intellectual property (IP), mentoring or leading of start-up companies by entrepreneurial research faculty, the cultural draw universities create for entrepreneurs, etc. There are also resources a non-research university offers to a region which are not necessarily regional innovation drivers, such as college-degree graduates for the labor force. It will be beneficial for New North meeting participants to understand everything Michigan Tech has to offer to the New North, but the primary focus of this meeting is innovation drivers that come from research universities.

The second concept above is important because we need to be aware of how distance between a region and a research university can influence the impact of the innovation drivers. If we understand that, we can identify which drivers are likely to have the most impact in spite of Green Bay being 211 miles from Houghton. If we understand why the primary economic influence of a university in the past has been geographically limited, we can target which research university resources will most likely have an impact across ~200 miles and which ones will likely be made more effective through appropriate use of remote collaboration and communication tools which didn't exist three to five years ago. It is likely many studies about geographical limitations of university economic impact were done before the development of internet tools that made the knowledge economy possible and enabled internet nomad workers to do their jobs well from anywhere they can find a reliable high-speed connection to the web.

Three additional resources I'd like to pull into this equation are:
  1. The National Science Foundation Office of Cyberinfrastructure and people working with them to develop tools for "Building Effective Virtual Organizations."
  2. The University of Michigan and others investigating "The Role of Engaged Universities in Economic Transformation."
  3. People participating effectively in "open source science."
The NN/MTU relationship will be worthwhile only if we develop an effective virtual organization to facilitate collaboration between individuals at Michigan Tech and companies in the New North. The collaboration will produce ten or twenty times more innovation if there's an effective virtual organization than if the interactions occur haphazardly and are left to the initiative of individual people in the NN or at MTU. Today's status quo is what the individual initiative approach has resulted in. An effective virtual organization is needed to make the relationship between the NN and research universities produce more innovation.

The University of Michigan involvement in "the role of engaged universities in economic transformation" addresses three questions pertinent to this NN/MTU collaboration:
  1. How does a state or region that has had its economic focus on manufacturing transform itself into one based on a knowledge economy that maintains a complementarity to its traditional base.
  2. What elements define the significant role of research universities (and of higher education in general) of the state or region in effecting and being engaged in such a transition?
  3. What incisive collaborative steps must be taken as part of state or regional initiatives and university strategies to catalyze this transition?
Lastly, we need to involve people who are knowledgeable about benefits of and effective techniques for "open source science." It was made clear during my participation in the January 2008 NSF workshop on "Building Effective Virtual Organizations" that research scientists are, for the most part, extremely adverse to sharing knowledge about their research prior to publication of fully developed and documented knowledge. Their pay, promotions, and recognition from peers is largely based on how much exclusive knowledge they generate. For there to be a truly collaborative relationship between the New North and faculty or student researchers at a research university, there will need to be appropriate incentives for those researchers to work with and openly share information with companies in the New North. There needs to be benefits not only for the companies of the New North, but also academic benefits to those researchers involved in the collaboration.

Members of the NEW Manufacturing Alliance, a large number of Michigan Tech alumni living in the New North and some other key representatives from the New North have been invited to this meeting. We don't know if we'll have ten people or a hundred people at the meeting, but I'm sure it will be interesting and worthwhile no matter how many people show up.

The 18 February meeting will not answer all the questions. It won't even provide time to ask all the questions pertinent to this topic. But it will be a good start toward the long-term regional innovation goal of building effective collaborative relationships between the New North and research universities.

*****

2008/02/10

Live.Yahoo.com

Last week Yahoo! launched Y! Live, a new website/service which lets you easily use a webcam to put live video on the web.

Acccording to the service's blog, Y! Live was created to:
...make it possible for anyone to create their own live video experience. Broadcast the concert you’re at. Webcast your own live DJ set. Lifecast. Build your own live video speed dating application. We’ve created a website and an API that lets you do all these things and many more...."
People who tried to use Y! Live when it first became available reported the expected launch glitches, and the service crashed to a fiery death with a relatively small number of users. However, this weekend Y! Live seemed to be working just fine. I didn't try to put any video up yet, but hope to play with it sometime today or tomorrow. We will definitely try using it a bit during the NEW NET (Northeast Wisconsin Network for Economy and Technology issues) meeting on 12 February 2008. If it seems to work well there, we also try using it at the FDLLUG (Fond du Lac Linux Users Group) meeting on 13 February 2008, where the topic for the evening will be Encryption, with a guest session leader from Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

The Yahoo! Developer Network blog gave a great example of how this new service can be used in this election year. Someone at an Obama rally in Seattle used a laptop webcam via a cell phone connection to the 'net to broadcast the video of the rally with Y! Live. My guess is that we'll have lots more live video feeds from election events using Y! Live or the other free live video websites.

Speaking of other free live video websites, various posts about the Y! Live launch also listed competitive services for the NEW NET gang to evaluate. The primary competitors listed were Ustream.tv, Justin.tv, Stickam, Flixwagon, Mogulus.com, Qik.com and Blogtv.com. And although it's not strictly a streaming webcam video service, another web service to throw into the mix for NEW NET meetings is oovoo. I haven't used these various services enough yet to be able to say which works best for me, but six months from now I hope to have enough hours experience with each of them to tell you my recommendations.

Using a slightly different approach, especially to have more control and to utilize open source software directly, Ryan H at NEWLUG (Northeast Wisconsin Linux Users Group) may be broadcasting their meetings to the web if he can find a willing Linux server to host the video stream.

Although there are many videocasts of highly questionable quality on these live video websites, it is definitely worthwhile trying out some of these services periodically as the services mature, technology advances and web speeds increase. These live video services have gotten to the point where they can be useful for communication and collaboration even if they're not the same as being face to face.

Let's hope the Y! Live site listens to its users and continues to improve. Yahoo!'s Flickr site is one of the better digital photograph sites on the web, so it would be great if they could successfully integrate a video site with their still photo site. With a large company like Yahoo! getting behind this service, and rumors circulating about Microsoft buying Ustream.tv, can it be long until Google feels the need to provide a similar service to its fans?

There's no doubt in my mind that some of the smart, hard-working Google geeks are using one or more of the above live video services. If Google doesn't already have a Gvideo service in use at its headquarters, it soon will...

*****