Yesterday was a big day. Not only a big announcement, but a chromosome test results came back indicating that Hugo is going to be a big brother to a healthy baby girl who will introduce herself to us around the end of April.
Prima Research Launch
After more than a decade of work, my fellow members at Prima Research have finally announced: Prima Research LLC Granted Fundamental Patents in Location Services. We have been issued several patents (Price et al. US 8,315,598 B2, US 8,594,703 and others) and are now actively seeking license agreements with those who can best bring the technologies we invented to market.
These are my first patents and I am more proud them than any other accomplishments in my professional career. None of the patents would have seen the light of day without an extensive collaboration with RF engineering genius and co-inventor, Greg Beveridge, with whom many years of “constructive table-pounding” have finally produced something great that we can share with the world. Now that the intellectual property is secured and the market is ripe — Gartner Research is currently sizing indoor location-based systems (ILBS) opportunity at $20.6 billion in 2015 — the time has come to take our solutions to the street!
A Bright Beginning
I am very happy to announce that today I accepted the position of Chief Operating Officer for Colorado Bright Beginnings.
Colorado Bright Beginnings is a not-for-profit organization with a mission to provide a bright beginning for all Colorado children by helping families support their children’s physical, emotional, and intellectual development during the critical first three years of life.
The Executive Director, Jean McSpadden, and the staff are all talented, bright, and passionate people and I am excited to work with them for this great cause. Moreover, the formidable CBB board of directors is ambitious and determined. I am honored to have been chosen to play a key role in making their vision a reality.
I Write to Find Out What I Think
“I write to find out what I think.”
-Stephen King
Moreover…
“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.”
-Joan Didion
Who Made That Soy-Sauce Dispenser?
It took three years for Ekuan and his team to arrive at the dispenser’s transparent teardrop shape. More than 100 prototypes were tested in the making of its innovative, dripless spout (based on a teapot’s, but inverted). The design proved to be an ideal ambassador. With its imperial red cap and industrial materials (glass and plastic), it helped timeless Japanese design values — elegance, simplicity and supreme functionality — infiltrate kitchens around the world.”
2012 WWDC Specials
This week is Apple’s World Wide Developer’s Conference and some of the best software companies are trying to raise their profiles. This means there are some killer software deals right now. Here are some of my favorites for productivity:
- 1Password (20% off) Simple password storage for Mac, Windows, and iOS. You are nuts if you don’t use this. I trust it with my 725 logins/passwords, all my personal license keys, and all my financial account numbers. Nothing could be easier: Go to a website, hit a key, and it automatically fills in the correct username and password information and logs you in. No lookups, no searching, just BAM and your in! And if you have multiple devices, it keeps them all in sync via Dropbox. Just get it. (And if you don’t have Dropbox, get that too. It’s free.)
- Pixelmator (50% off) For me, it’s a full-blown Photoshop replacement. So much easier and faster for editing graphics and photos.
- OmniFocus (50% off) If you are a GTD (Getting Things Done®) fanatic, this is the only tool you need to wrangle your Todos and Action Lists. It’s made for busy people managing complex projects.
- OmniGraphSketcher (50% off) Create elegant and precise graphs with data from any source. So much better than Excel graphs for presentations!
- Fantastical (50% off) Menubar Calendar app for iCal. My primary calendar tool.
If You’re Absent During My Struggle
If you’re absent during my struggle,
don’t expect to be present during my success.
-Will Smith
Please Do Not Climb on Rocks
“Please Do Not Climb on Rocks”
What?
How to Use One Paper Towel
Having not found any useful information on the topic, I created a stub for interstitial suspension on Wikipedia.
I can’t wait for next year’s presentation on “How to Use One Piece of Toilet Paper”.
Update: I’ve been trying this and it’s remarkable how well it really works.
Coffee Math
I happened upon the interesting formula below while reading about cooking thermometers. I understand that fountain drinks are even more profitable.
Great Coffee = Great Profits
One location
Buys coffee at $14.00 per pound
Using 4 ounces to brew a 64 ounce pot
Serving an 8 ounce cup
32 cups per pound of coffee
At 100 cups per day, with 50 refills at no charge
Selling each cup at $1.95At 54 cents per cup COGS, you profit $44,484.38 in one year
Can you afford NOT to serve delicious coffee?
What sort of “coffee” can you easily add to your business?