Thoughts
Ideas that transform people, businesses, and industries
Deeply rooted in our organizational ethos is the celebration of authentic and unapologetic “thought.” We believe each member of our team brings with them a unique view of themselves, our clients, and of the world we live in. We make a point to not only articulate our individual experiences, senses, emotions, and actions internally, but to share them with you here.
Kurzweil 2009 Prediction #1: Computer Performance
"A $1000 personal computer can perform about a trillion calculations per second."On this prediction, Kurzweil seems to have been largely correct. Its hard to find precise statistics for this particular measure, but here, Kurzweil is simply reformulating Moore's law...
Kurzweil prediction review
For some reason, Ray Kurzweil and his predictions about the future have been coming up frequently in conversation lately (yes . . . I have nerdy friends.) In fact, I had a debate with a friend about his predictions last night over dinner while the rest of the table...
Deep thoughts from 30,000 feet
Warning: I've had lots of coffee, chocolate, brain candy, and now a glass of wine after little sleep and a thought provoking day... So this is going to be one of THOSE blogs...Earlier this week I read this HBR article, "How will you measure your life?" by Clayton...
New Release for Netflix = More USPS fallout
This is not good news for the USPS...but it's good news for Netflix users. Netflix just signed a deal with a consortium of movie studios that increases Netflix's access to 46% of newly released movies. And with that, the USPS will start to see a fairly...
53 man roster
For any of you that are football fans, the opening of training camp and the beginning of preseason is most likely earning some of your attention. Football teams are engaged in the annual event of evaluating talent, pushing themselves during grueling workouts and...
Apply by August 9th to have CU CompSci students help with a company project!
Do you have a software project that could use some attention? I co-chair the Education Committee of CSIA (Colorado's Technology Association) and we are helping the University of Colorado Computer Science department collect proposals for a Senior Software Engineering...
Really? People aren’t motivated by money?
This video is fun on a couple of levels - first, it is fascinating how much more engaging this soundbite is with the animation associated to it. It makes you realize how much more we can digest (and focus) when multiple channels are utilized (in this case, auditory...
Data usage iceberg
In previous blog, I rambled on about smartphone data plans and the movement of big providers to more tiered pricing services. And then while dorking out today, I read an article about the exponential rise in data consumption in the NY Times technology...
The $35 iPad
No, that's not missing a $0! This device, recently released by the Indian government, can watch a movie, read a book, check your email, browse the Internet. Its pretty amazing to think about what the world will be like as we get these devices into so many hands...
Early christmas gift idea, if you’re wondering
Since I bought my iPad in May, one of "killer" apps that I had looked for is one that allows the iPad to become a universal remote. See, I'm like every other guy in America that ends up with a myriad of remotes sitting on my living room table or end tables and the...
IKEA’s Beauty and its Beast
I appreciate the utility of IKEA. It's a great business model, the products are solid, if not above average in terms of quality and customer's appreciate the "beauty" it provides. Its products are an epiphany for people who want utility at a reasonable price point....
Is IT ready for growth?
The cover story on the latest Information Week, "Return to Growth" makes some interesting points. Their 2010 survey of IT priorities showed a drastic leap in the number of organizations that are focused on introducing new IT led products and services for customers. As...
Skills that Pay the IT bills
While reading an IT related website, I found an article that intrigued me. The author provided a list of 10 what he called "must have" IT skills for IT professionals in their day to day jobs. The list: 1. Troubleshooting 2. PowerShell and Scripting 3. Networking...
Working globally
Several of our big clients over the last year are global companies, with headquarters in Europe and most of the people we work with on a daily basis dispersed throughout North America. From a consulting perspective, it is interesting to observe how different they...
Can Apple maintain momentum?
Apple passed Microsoft yesterday as the most valuable technology company, at least as defined by market capitalization (Microsoft still has a strong lead in both revenue and profits). Apple's "comeback" is arguably the biggest turnaround in history. This NYT article...
Good news for CS majors…
A recent WSJ article highlighted some good news for CS grads, despite the fact that most college grads are facing lower relative salaries."Those with computer-related degrees are expected to see one of the largest increases in offers — rising to $58,746, on average,...
What if we all told girls they were good at math…
When I was in fifth grade, I announced to my dad that “girls aren’t supposed to be good at math”. I don’t remember exactly what spurred the comment; I think it might have been my denial that “x” couldn’t be ANY number, or maybe I just knew at some level it would tweak...
Can you shim like I shim?
Perfect last week. Absolutely fantastic week as a consultant. I couldn't have asked for more in terms of productivity and effort, as well as fully engaged clients and high quality meetings. And with all good meetings, there's something that pops out that I'm hooked...
Shopping at Apple
I really don’t like shopping, but unfortunately, I like having stuff, so I end up doing it sometimes, when I can’t outsource it to someone else. The other day was one of those days. I went into the Apple store to buy a phone charger. I sighed as I walked through the...
Social Networking’s Impact on Organizational Structures
The Economist recently did a special report on social networking. It is thoughtful and comprehensive, but it could have been written a couple of years ago. I love the Economist, but their reports on IT tend to lag the times. As usual, I was a little disappointed....
Financial Planning in the Cloud: An Update
I am SO glad I listened to my "consultant". If you didn't read the previous post, this consultant, had I hired them, would have convinced me to give up on the processes I had used for years associated with Quicken. And I was very resistant. In fact, since my PC...