Author: Jason Grigsby

links for 2008-02-11

links for 2008-02-10

“Pipe Dream Driven by Greed”

I stumbled across another fun article from the NY Times about the mobile market tonight. Here are some choice quotes:

We are writing Chapter 2 of the history of personal computers.

This could be “the mother of all markets.”

Now guess who said them.

If you followed the recent Davos coverage, you’d probably guess that the first quote is from Google CEO Eric Schmidt who compared mobile to the recreation of the Internet. The second quote is almost verbatim what SanDisk CEO Dr. Eli Harari said during CES in January.

As you can probably guess by the set up, the quotes aren’t from Schmidt or Harari. They are from Nobuo Mii and John Sculley respectively. And they said them in 1992.

They got things right, but they were off on timing by a decade and half. By contrast, Intel’s Andy Grove called “the idea of a wireless personal communicator in every pocket is ‘a pipe dream driven by greed.'”

He was right about it being a pipe dream in 1992. 2008 is a different story. Intel itself has in many ways bet its company’s fortune on the expanding mobile market. The pipe dream is now reality.

links for 2008-02-08

Ignite Portland Recap

Dana and I had a blast at Ignite Portland last night. The presentations were wonderful, entertaining and thought-provoking.

If you missed the event, you can still watch the videos of the presentations courtesy of Linuxaid.

One of my favorite parts of the evening was meeting people. Some of the people I met I’ve been following on Twitter. Twitter has contributed to a sense of community in Portland’s tech and creative circles that I haven’t seen before. It’s a wonderful thing.

While all of the presentations were interesting, I had a few thoughts I wanted to share on a couple of them:

  • Where Does Imagination Go? — This may have been my favorite of the funny presentations for the night. It was riddled with Lewis Carroll-like quotes such as “Where does imagination go? I don’t know. Imagination can only go where we imagine it to go. And imagination has never gone where I imagined it couldn’t.”
  • That’s Entertainment: Politics as Theater in Campaign ’08 — One of the slides showed how politicians have to be performers. Bill Clinton had to play the sax. Mike Huckabee on guitar. It reminded me of running for student government in high school all over again. Except it’s not high school.
  • Time for Portland to Take Its Place — Great stuff in this presentation. The ideas of following our passions, swing for the fences and build great companies. Portland is the place this stuff can happen. We just need to shoot higher.
  • Beauty in Abandonment — It was great to see Peat on stage and Lyza‘s photo. I didn’t realize Peat was a photographer as well. More to talk about the next time we grab lunch.
  • A History of the Stick Figure — This was a five-minute version of the Helvetica documentary. Great info and history that I didn’t know.

To sum up the evening, Dana turned to me and said, “You better invite me to the next one.” Consider it done.

Google = :CueCat? You call this news?

I had started a rant on the frustrating coverage that Google has started to include QR Codes in print advertising. CrunchGear, Read/Write Web and even one of my favorite bloggers, Joel Spolsky have jumped on a meme that Google’s inclusion of QR codes is the same as the failed :CueCat business model from the 90s.

Thankfully, the All on Mobile blog Read/Write Web’s own predictions for 2008 said highlighted used of QR codes. So one day the publication is calling QR Codes the future. A couple of weeks later, they’re ridiculing Google for using them.

Why I Like Public Speaking

People are often surprised to find out that I’m introverted because I seek opportunities for public speaking. Why would an introvert like public speaking?

There are a few reasons including my appreciation for great oratory; the fact that public speaking is easier for me than chit chat; and it provides a forum to share ideas that I’m enthusiastic about.

The main reason I like public speaking is because I have little fear of it. I know public speaking is one of the top fears for most people. It used to be one of my top fears before I ran for student government in high school.

At my high school, there was a large assembly during which all of the candidates for office were given time slots to campaign for votes. I prepared a heartfelt speech about what I believed student government needed to do and how I would make sure it did it.

As I stood backstage worried about my speech, my apprehension quickly turned into terror. I watched each candidate get on stage and perform skits, sing, dance or simply act silly do make the audience laugh.

This wasn’t an election. It was a talent show!

I realized there was no way this didn’t end in humiliation. If I decided not to go on stage, everyone would know, and I would be harassed endlessly. If I went on stage, I was going to make a fool out of myself, and be harassed endlessly.

Guessing that I was screwed either way, I went on stage.

It was awful. See I made the worst mistake possible in high school. I took something seriously and was earnest. I was mocked, heckled, and a few people even threw things before teachers stopped them.

Thankfully, it was a short speech. But it didn’t end there. I was teased mercilessly on the bus ride home and the following day.

But then two amazing things happened.

First, I had some students who had never talked to me before tell me that they loved my speech and that my speech was the only one that was worth it for them. Second, within a few days, people stopped teasing me, and I had survived.

I was still gun-shy about public speaking for some time, but when I had the opportunity to do give a speech in college, I found that I had little apprehension. The reality is that nothing can happen to me on stage now that would be worse that the embarrassment I experienced in high school. And I survived that.

So now public speaking is enjoyable. I insist on being prepared and knowing my material well. I stress endlessly about making sure the presentation is perfect and that I’m telling a good story. But once I step on stage, I have confidence that nothing can happen to me that will top my high school experience.

After I left the high school’s auditorium, I didn’t want to face the world ever again. Now, I’m incredibly thankful I had that experience.