Excerpts

These posts will mostly be of interest to people inside or connected with Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. If you’re interested in getting these posts delivered directly to your inbox, enter your email address below and click “Subscribe”.

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According to the Mayan calendar, the world will come to an end in 2012. Books and movies have been written about how this will happen… asteroid impact, alien invasion, hypervolcanoes, you name it.
Maybe they were just predicting the U.S. economy:
In 2012, every business, including sole-proprietorships, will have to issue a 1099 to anyone from whom [...]

I was asked to provide a list of ten books that everyone should read. (Not a list of “my ten favorite books” or “the ten best books ever written”… that’s hopeless.)
I didn’t put as much time into it as I’d like to, since the author is on a deadline, but here’s what I came [...]

I’m the first one to admit that Apple devices aren’t perfect. On balance, however, I find that they fit my needs better than competing products. Your mileage may vary.
But, usually, They Just Work™.
However, I’ve encountered a bizarre problem with one of my MacBook Pros. (Oddly enough, with the office unit, which I [...]

Dr. Arun Majumdar, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy, will be visiting Georgia Tech on Monday. In addition to private meetings, he will be holding a public lecture for the Georgia Tech community:
Monday, April 19, 2010
3:00 – 4:15 pm
Clary Theater, Student Success Center
(For those of you unfamiliar with the SSC, it is tucked [...]

I’d like to welcome Christopher Lee and AMAC to the Enterprise Innovation Institute, effective July 1, 2010.
The Alternative Media Access Center is an initiative of the Board of Regents University System of Georgia with a mission to improve system wide services for students with print-related disabilities. AMAC has expanded its services nationwide to include all [...]

Only a Democrat President, with the glitz and glamour of JFK, could possibly have gotten this far in killing the hagiography of JFK’s space program. No Republican would have a chance. As a lifelong space enthusiast and long-time space investor, I’m absolutely thrilled. Because, as I never cease pointing out to people… I don’t support “the space program.” I support the space industry. And you have to kill the former to allow room for the new industry to breathe.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad yesterday, my first thoughts were “Ooooh! Shiny! I want one!”
Then I read the orgy of criticism that washed over the blogosphere last night about all the device’s perceived failings and, on mature and considered reflection…
I still want one.
(Maybe two, so I don’t have to fight with my [...]

The Apple faithful are all a-twitter about the possibility of Apple introducing a tablet computer at the end of this month.
Of course, this being Apple, nay-sayers abound. They seem to come from two different directions.

Since tablet computers have been around forever and have been resounding market failures, why should this one be [...]

The Science Channel released a video clip from its new show “The Future Of …” which includes a 10 minute segment about projects at the Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology, including Shimon, ZOOZbeat and others. The show will air this coming Monday, 2 November 2009, at 9:00pm.
Here is the clip they released as [...]

I’m at Melbourne International Airport (MLB)… the one in Florida, not the one in Australia! And I’ve been killing a couple of hours with a rain delay. The weather is fine here, but nasty back home in Atlanta.

This is my new favorite airport.
Take a look at the booths in the airport restaurant: [...]

Another of my letters-to-the-editor that will never be published, so you can read it here. This one was sent to Scientific American regarding their November 2009 issue.

In September 2006, you published a special issue on “Energy’s Future” with a well-reasoned mix of articles on energy conservation, renewable energy, and nuclear power. I’ve referred [...]

A funny thing happened at the various events last week (VentureAtlanta, Future Media Georgia, and GVU’s Demo Day…
I suddenly noticed how many music technology companies have recently sprung up in Georgia!Here’s a quick list, but I am probably missing some:

BandMetrics
BeatTweet
FreeAllMusic
Khu.sh (LaDiDa)
Maestro.fm
Music Intelligence Solutions (uPlaya)
Neurotic Media (Amplified.com)
Rank ‘Em
Vertical Acuity
Zooz Mobile

Some of these have raised substantial venture [...]

The Georgia Tech Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI2) seeks a highly proficient applicant to develop information technology applications including websites, databases, mashups and other web-based solutions. For additional information about EI2 see: http://www.innovate.gatech.edu/. The position will be located in the Technology Square area on 5th Street in Midtown Atlanta and will initially begin as a temporary [...]

The College of Management is seeking a highly skilled Web Developer.
Duties:
Reporting to the On Line Communications and Marketing Manager, the position will:
develop, test, and troubleshoot web applications and programs and assist with the maintenance of website files, graphics, systems, and equipment
work with multiple groups within the organization to keep the Website content current and provide web support [...]

I am a seasoned professional software engineer, with a tremendous amount of experience in multiple programming languages and operating systems. I’ve done software for both scientific and commercial applications, in areas ranging from accounting to race-car data acquisition.
I can pick up a new problem, develop an understanding quickly, and then rapidly produce [...]

I specialize in C++, .NET, C# and other OOP; with applications experience running the gamut from databases to accounting to scientific analysis to e-commerce.
Whatever your application, I can bring your software project to completion on budget, on time, and on spec. Don’t have specs yet? I can help with that, too.
Most importantly, the [...]

I specialize in microprocessor-based and embedded consumer product development.
Whether written on a napkin or detailed in a 40-page document, give me your product goals or specifications and I’ll turn your vision into tangible reality — from specification to design to prototyping to testing to production — on budget, on time, and on spec.
Only [...]

For those of you who didn’t see the link on Twitter… the fine folks at TechDrawl (who are located on the third floor of Centergy) have posted a brief video of an interview with me. Enjoy.

This is too long to tweet…
At Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta, Boingo contracts with the airport for Wi-Fi carriage. That means they don’t control their own infrastructure.
I run JungleDisk on my Mac, which continually backs up selected directories to Amazon S3. I highly recommend their service. But, if it detects an Internet connection, it will silently [...]

Forty years after Apollo, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution wanted to run a brief pro/con on “Should we go back to the Moon?” They called Georgia Tech. I volunteered to do “No,” and Dr. Loewy from our School of Aerospace Engineering volunteered for “Yes.” The catch: a tight limit of 150 words. That’s hard.
I [...]

We had two incredible open forum sessions yesterday to discuss the future of ATDC. The Hodges Room was pretty much filled both times, so I suspect nearly 200 people took the time to come down and share their ideas with us. Thank you!
We broadcast both sessions over the Internet, courtesy of ATDC member [...]

One of the reasons Bud Peterson rocks as the new president of Georgia Tech:
When walking him down to the lobby after our all-employee meeting yesterday, we ran into Ken Stewart (Commissioner of Economic Development), and had a brief but useful conversation. I mentioned how great it was to have so many related functions in [...]

Preparing for Dr. Peterson’s visit next week, I’ve been asked “so what’s our official abbreviation”?
When the Enterprise Innovation Institute was formed four years ago, Martha Schoonmaker made a valiant attempt to ban any sort of abbreviation. But it’s ten syllables, and humans are lazy, and some sort of short form was inevitable.
Unfortunately, the obvious [...]

…just because I can! In-flight Wi-Fi is cool.

EI2 is looking for a few good photographers — people who can help document what the organization is doing to help companies and communities all around Georgia. In the past, we’ve paid professionals to do this… in line with the new austerity, I decided to shake the tree a little and see what’s available [...]

So by now you’ve seen the press release about reorganizing ATDC, VentureLab, and the SBIR Assistance Program under the single banner of ATDC. And that we’re throwing open the doors of ATDC to all technology entrepreneurs in Georgia.
This is different.

ATDC is almost thirty years old. (We’re going to have a thirty-year birthday bash next year; [...]

Below is the text of a press release that Georgia Tech will send out on Monday, 27 July 2009.

ATDC, one of the nation’s largest, longest running, and best-known university-based technology accelerators, is expanding its mission. ATDC has been merged with Georgia Tech’s VentureLab and with the Georgia SBIR Assistance Program. By pooling resources, the new [...]

I met with Dene Sheheane, Georgia Tech’s director of state government relations, today on some issues regarding EI2 and the state of Georgia… and he volunteered some interesting information about Bud Peterson.
During Dr. Peterson’s first 100 days as Georgia Tech’s president, he’s had a grueling travel schedule across Georgia to meet as many [...]

After the collapse of part of the E82 parking deck, a number of Atlanta employees have expressed quite logical concerns about the E81 deck that we are all now using.
I’ve been in contact with the facilities maintenance people at Georgia Tech, and can report the following statements:

Georgia Tech has always had a rigorous maintenance and [...]

If you’ve read the paper today, you know that state revenues continue to fall below expectations. By now, you’ve all seen Dr. Peterson’s campus bulletin about furloughs. Also today, we have received additional guidance from the governor’s Office of Planning and Budget that they will be withholding a percentage of our FY10 budget [...]