RIP Ed Auld

Ed Auld made a big difference in my life. I’m gonna miss him.

Here is more detail on his passing from UBC Physics director earlier today.

It is with great sorrow that I pass on the information that Professor Emeritus Edward Auld passed away yesterday, in his sleep.

During a career that was passionately devoted to the Department, Ed played pivotal roles in rebuilding the Engineering Physics Programme in the 1980′s, and in the commissioning of TRIUMF.

His ongoing presence in the department will be sorely missed.

Seth’s Marketing Pitch for H1N1 Vaccine

PS if I was marketing the swine flu vaccine, I’d name it after a kid who died last season and put her picture on the release form. » Seth Godin

Seth was on a rant yesterday about how many people still rely on gut instinct to make decisions on complex issues. We’re (bad) amateur scientist’s. He says that more than half of NY parents chose to keep their kids out of H1N1 vaccine programs in its first week.

Uncle Dynamite … is LOL!

I’m loving PG Wodehouse’s Uncle Fred books. His full name is “Frederick Altamont Cornwallis Twistleton, 5th Earl of Ickenham”. He’s spreading “Sweetness and Light” at the Dog Races with his nephew Pongo. He’s a “complications are the spice of life kinda chap”.

I just finished, and highly recommend, Uncle Dynamite on audible. The narrator Jonathan Cecil is great!

Internet Traffic Growth down to ~45%/yr vs ~55%/yr » MINTS

Minnesota Internet Traffic Studies (MINTS) Nov 17, 2009 update says wireline Internet traffic growth is about 40-50% per year, down from its previous pace of 50-60% per year.

There is some info on wireless data traffic growing 100% per year. This is based on comments from Verizon, Cisco, and Chetan Sharma

BAEN 502 Week 3 – Out of the Building Experiences

This weeks guest speakers were great. A big “Thank You” to Ken Simpson of MailChannels and David Helliwell of Pulse Energy for describing their “Out of the building experiences”.

On my front. I survived the marking of the first assignment. If I’ve learned one thing teaching this course it is that I have gained tremendous respect for people who mark. It is hard work.

How big is a 130nm Flu Virus relative to a coffee bean?

It’s really small. Very cool visualization of viruses versus real world items like coffee bean and grain of rice at University of Utah Genetic Science Learning Center.

Try it here It works like a microscope … just zoom in and out.

tip to Kedroskys’s Infectious Greed.

Steve Jobs Photos » Fortune

Dave W sent me this link to a gallery of Steve Jobs photo’s over at Fortune mag. It brings back a lot of memories for me as a Mac User. My first experience with Jobs and Mac was back in high-school where I learned to program in basic on the Apple II.

MacHeist – 5 Free Apps – ’til wednesday

MacHeist has WriteRoom, Twitterrific, TinyGrab, Hordes of Orcs and ShoveBox for free for 4 more days . I think WriteRoom is a good app to try if you write a lot of stuff.

Week 2 – Customer Discovery & Listening

My favorite part of presenting the customer discovery process is a discussion of the attributes of listening that I got from Marshall Goldsmith’s “What Got You Here, Won’t Get You There“. This is a subset of the “Dating Skills for Engineers” presentation.

A big “Thank You” to Bill R for his presentation on the early days of the Saturn Development Group. Thanks Bill.

Listening Tips and applications of Customer Development

Here are some listening tips from Marshall@BusinessWeek

For those asking, “What does our investor pitch look like if we follow the customer development model?” Here is a great post, by the inventor of the Customer Development process, Steve Blank on Raising Money with Customer Development. I like his covering line

This is a radical departure from a traditional VC pitch. It will blow the minds of 70-80% of investors. The others will throw you out of their office.

My First Week – Burn the Biz Plan

The first reading always inspires me. It’s a Babson College study that concludes

“… there is no compelling reason to write a detailed business plan before opening a new business.”

Do Business Plans Make No Difference In The Real World? A Study Of 117 New Ventures — enjoy.

tip to Steve Blank for introducing me to this reading