Your Computer Minute with Peter Kay

OK, so blogging is cool and makes us all feel warm and fuzzy inside, but can you really use it for business?

Here’s one REALLY good example I found on businessweekOnline, Ice.com, a jewerly manufacturer, that has created 3 different blog Web sites:

http://www.justaskleslie.com/ “just ask Leslie”, apparently some heavy-duty jewelry chick that gives people advice on what to buy.

http://blog.ice.com/ a “corporate” blog that tells the whole world about their great accomplishments

http://www.sparklelikethestars.com/ “Sparkle Like the Stars”, a blog that covers what kind of Jewelry the celebs are wearing.

Very cool, very simple ideas here. Both justaskleslie and sparklelikethestars of course link EACH product to Ice.com.

I think we have a pretty good example of a great blog business model here. WhatChuAllTink? Post your comments please!

I’m reading this CNET article “Apple to ditch IBM, switch to Intel chips” and I get the big “whoa”.

Apple is possibly moving to an IBM chip. So what does this mean?

The open-source FreeBSD operating system, of which Mac OS X is a variant, already runs on x86 chips such as Intel’s Pentium. And Jobs has said Mac OS X could easily run on x86 chips.

Us ex-Apple lovers really got pissed off at Jobs back in the ’80s because his religion (against the PC) blinded him to the opportunity of running on the PC and Sculley followed his suit. We all know that Apple would have killed MS if they ported the Mac OS to the PC. Well, here’s their chance.

I still don’t quite understand why Apple hasn’t seriously bonded with the Linux gang. Macs make the ultimate desktop workstation while Linux makes the killer server. I can’t be the only guy seeing this, right?

And now for something completely different:

IBM loses cachet with the end of the Apple partnership, but it can take consolation in that it’s designing and manufacturing the Power family processors for future gaming consoles from Microsoft

What a weird world we live in. Microsoft switches to IBM’s Power PC chip to run their graphics console while Apple drops the PowerPC to run on Intel (Wintel?) machines.

If you’ve ever had to hire, manage, motivate, or work with Real Programmers, you MUST listen to Paul Graham talk about “Great Hackers”. In his presentation, he uses the term Hackers to mean Programmers instead of what we typically think of Hackers people who break into computers. So just know that going in and you will love this presentation.

I’ve been in the tech industry since I was a young teen and have dealt with Hackers all my life. This presentation is, by far, the best I’ve ever heard. I had the great pleasure and honor to spend a little bit of time with Paul Graham. He’s a cool guy and I would definitely suggest you listen to this. If you’re really intersted, buy the book!

I just read this article in SB about Magdy F. Iskander. Now THIS is a mover and shaker for Hawaii’s tech industry, specializing in wireless communications. A few of his accomplishments:

• He has attracted $3 million of hard-to-get research money, established a unique antenna lab, had nine published research articles and is working with industries, schools, state and national agencies to produce the “next-generation entrepreneurs in telecommunications.”

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• He has eight patents, including three since coming here for wireless components or software for Motorola, Raytheon and Kyocera Wireless.
• Iskander also is working with the hospitality industry to bring international conferences here to contribute to the state economy. He was president of the IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society in 2002 and organized a conference here in 2003 on wireless communications. He’s planning a similar conference this year and is working up to a major event in 2007.

Now, mind you, this guy had a cushy job in Utah already:

Iskander had lived in Utah for 25 years and had the only endowed professorial chair at the university. He was comfortable and wasn’t thinking of leaving until visiting Hawaii in 2001, he said.

So what brought him here?

“Walking in Waikiki was just like home (Alexandria, Egypt).” he said. “It attracted me.”

(Same thing happened to me 20 yrs ago!)

It was nice to read an article like this and let me say “I’m glad you’re here”.

My good buddy and patent attorney Leighton Chong wrote a good article on “An Alternative Business Model for Hawaii Tech Company Success” that I think any entrepreneur should take a serious look at. Leighton’s point is that instead of building out a traditional Silicon Valley (SV) tech company, Hawaii can be just as successful by licensing intellectual property (IP) instead.

The SV model requires many millions in venture capital, which is very difficult to come by in Hawaii. The IP model only needs about $500k in angel funds, which is not too hard in Hawaii if you have a good plan. Instead of building out a huge company with lots of overhead, staff, executives, and headaches, develop what he calls the “Three P’s” :

(i) Protecting their intellectual property rights; (ii) Proving that the technology works (building a functioning prototype, or contracting tests and studies to validate it); and (iii) Productizing their inventions (researching unique niches of demand in the markets and designing optimal products that people will buy).

And once you’ve done that, find a company that is wiling to buy your Intellectual Property via a licensing agreement. A successful IP company provides almost as good a return as a successful SV company except it can do it with far less capital. Throw in our state’s Act 215 tax incentive to develop and R&D company, and it becomes quite attractive.

I’ve been personally following this path myself for the past few years with my email privacy company, Titan Key Software. We just received a patent in March of 2005. I’ll keep you all posted on any major good news that comes our way.

Meanwhile, give Leighton’s article a good read and post some of your comments here. I’m going to see if I can talk Leighton into doing a podcast interview.