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I wrote a list of pickup/opening lines to use on venture capitalists for the Sun Microsystems small business blog. Please check it out here. The post lists the most common lines and what a venture capitalist would think when you utter such drivel.
For total venture capital news coverage, try Venturecapital.alltop.com.
Holy cow, am I the last person in the world to see this? Forget Cathay Pacific's first class seat, this is the way to make a speech in a far away land: Cisco/Musion Systems TelePresence holographic video conference. John Chambers (left) is in Bangalore. The other two guys (Martin De Beer and Chuck Stucki) are in San Jose. Click here to watch how it works.
(Thanks to Dave Kurlan for pointing this out to me.)
There are approximately thirteen million CCTV cameras in the United Kingdom. They are use to monitor people for security reasons--not all the time, though. A band called The Get Out Clause played their music in front of eighty cameras, requested the footage citing the Freedom of Information Act, and put together a music video. This story is about a year old, but I thought it would still inspire entrepreneurs to think outside the crosswalk. (Thanks to Mordy Golding for telling me about this.)
My buddies at TechShop are holding an open house this Saturday from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. More info about the event is here. These are pictures from my recent visit there. Essentially, TechShop is geek heaven with all sorts of tools and machines for people to build stuff. If you liked Maker Faire, you'll like TechShop.
I recently spent forty hours in Kuala Lumpur to speak at the 16th World Congress on Information Technology. Wow, what city KL is. I hope you enjoy my pictures.
Kuala Lumpur means "mouth of the muddy river." The city is located at the confluence of the Sungai Gombak and Sungai Klang (rivers). It was established in the 1850s and has a population of approximately 1.6 million people. It's sure different from Dublin.
Malaysians must like tall things. This is the world's tallest statue of the Hindu deity called Murugan in front of the Batu Caves
This is the Petronas Towers. It was the world's tallest building from 1998 to 2004. Counting the antenna, it is 1482.9 feet tall. It encompasses eighty-eight floors and 4,252,000 square feet.
This will give you an idea of just how big the statue is.
This is what it looks like when you start climbing those stairs.
272 steps later, you reach the top. Notice that the guy next to me did it without shoes.
This is what the inside of the cave looks like. During the Thaipusam festival, 1.5 million people visit the caves.
If you're in the middle of the main cave and look up, this is what you'd see.
At the top of the steps, you can handle an albino snake.
And get your picture taken.
Various sculptures around the caves.
I think this says that there is a two-minute penalty for high sticking.
This is a temple near the base of the steps.
A vendor's cart in front of the cave.
![Shirley, Guy & CP[Will].jpg](http://blog.guykawasaki.com//Shirley, Guy & CP[Will].jpg)
Shirley and C. P. Ng, the kind people who took me to the Batu Caves.
Next stop: the Thean Hou Temple.
This is my favorite picture from the trip.
This is the restaurant under the temple.
Next stop: the Central Market.
What's up with this?
This is what $17 (US) buys you in Chinatown: three cans of soda, two beers, one barley drink, fried rice, two noodle dishes, sweet and sour pork, and roast pork.
However, you do have to stare at the ear candling sign the whole time.
Malaysian traffic signal. I swear this is an icon as from the PowerPoint library.
At some point, I took a picture with almost everyone in KL.
Getting makeup applied before a television appearance. Lots of people asked me if I was Jackie Chan.
A Toyota mini-van that's not available in the U.S. Think: Lexus meets Sienna.
Press this button and a waitress appears at the Nikko Hotel.
The best seat I've ever had on a commercial flight: Cathay Pacific 747-400. I'd like to see what Jet Airways offers to Mumbai.
This is where your feet go. That's another seat at the other end so that people can sit and chat with you. There's nothing like fresh orchids at your seat on an airplane.
And this is the nicest bathroom I've ever seen on a commercial flight. Total time in KL: forty-five hours. Total time in transit: forty-five hours. Something is wrong with this logic.
Darren Rowse, Mr. Problogger, gave me a great interview about making money with blogging (or not), Seth Godin's "no-comments" policy, ValleyWag's "ask us permission to comment" policy), blogging tools to use, his personal favorite blogs, Google PageRank, Technorati's future, and the uses of blogs by small businesses. It's a long, eclectic river of blogging commentary. Click here to read it. For more news and information about blogging, please check out Blogging.Alltop.com.
Jerry White is the co-founder of Survivor Corps (formerly Landmine Survivors Newwork). His life changed in 1984 when he lost his leg in a landmine explosion while visiting Israel. After this experience he has championed the cause of survivorship and became a leader in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. In 1997 this organization, Jerry, and Jody Williams shared the Nobel Peace Prize. He recently published a book called I Will Not Be Broken: Five Steps to Overcoming a Life Crisis
Question: What do people who are undergoing a life crisis need most?
Answer: We crave empathy and support. We need to know that someone out there—anyone!—who understands what we are going through. Yes, there are emergency “things” we need like safety, food, shelter, direct assistance; but ultimately we are social beings in search of social connection and meaning.
Question: What do they need most from their government?
Answer: Governments add most value during emergency situations when they address macro issues such as rule of law, security, resource mobilization, strategic communications, respect for human rights without discrimination and coordination of services. Unfortunately, recent examples of Hurricane Katrina and the current mortgage crises suggest that government too often fails us, and is slow to react to mass destruction. It takes a village to survive emergencies, with help from the private sector, social sector and public sector. No single government agency or sector can do it all. We need our neighbors and civil society to come through for us. It is always a mistake to wait passively for bureaucracies and government agencies to “save” us.
Question: What are the key stages of overcoming a crisis?
Answer: In the face of crisis and catastrophe, we are afraid. Our first temptation is to fight the facts or flee from the facts. But to overcome, we must get our mind around the truth of our lives and circumstances. Here are five steps that survivors worldwide have used to overcome a life crisis:
Face facts. This awful thing has happened. I can’t roll back the clock. This sucks.
Choose life, not death. I want to find hope; create options for a positive future.
Reach out. No one survives alone. Isolation will kill us. Let others into our lives.
Get moving. You have to get up and out of the house. Do your “survivor sit-ups.”
Give back. Become a benefactor not just a beneficiary. Yes, you will add value.
Question: How can people be expected to “give back” when so much has been taken from them?
Answer: The most generous can be found among the poorest of the poor, people who experienced crisis and poverty themselves. Many have discovered that the key to finding joy lies in giving back to our communities. Many of us exert enormous effort just to survive life, but when we learn to give again, in small and big ways, we gain in strength. Giving keeps us from slipping back into a victim mentality.
None of the survivors I work with, from Bosnia to Vietnam to Ethiopia, wants to be dependent on our charity or pity. They want a chance to get back in the game. That’s why each and every survivor we work with agrees to perform community service. For example, if we help a survivor get a fake leg or find a job, then he or she is obligated to help another survivor in their community. Sometimes it’s as simple as a roof repair, or sharing of food. Everyone feels better after giving again. Does anyone out there feel good being in someone else’s “charitable” debt?
Question: Is it accepting the impact of such a crisis the best case or can people go beyond and thrive or be stronger than before the crisis?
Answer: Acceptance is just the beginning…slowly, we start to “face facts” to break through initial denial and fear. When life explodes, our first instinct is “fight” or “flight.” We rage at what as happened or we run from it. These are short-term survival instincts, but not healthy long-term survivorship strategies needed to get through tough times. And just “getting through” is not our primary life objective.
We humans have an uncanny ability to reframe our thoughts and choose to find meaning in our scars. Thousands of survivors we have interviewed talk about growing stronger after a catastrophe. But they made healthy choices along the way; it was no accident that they rediscovered joy after debilitating loss.
Question: Still, even for the “thrivers,” do you think they would want whatever happened to happen to them again?
Answer: I never give “good press” to a “bad thing.” To this day, I wish I had never stepped on that landmine in Israel and lost my right leg. I don’t romanticize the pain nor do I give any credit for my thriving to landmines—they are lethal military litter that daily maims and kills innocent men, women, and children. I don’t know any rape survivor who would put a positive spin on sexual violence, nor any cancer survivor who fancies cancer and chemotherapy.
The key to thriving is not the “thing” but our determination to choose the survivor path, en route to a healthy and positive future. Life can wound us terribly, but we, thankfully, are more than the sum of our wounds. We can choose our response to tragedy and trauma. As the cheerful but hackneyed saying goes, we can “make lemonade out of lemons.” Still, lemons never stop being sour, do they?
Question: What differentiates someone who will overcome or even thrive from someone who will be defeated by a crisis?
Answer: People who overcome and thrive are those who have learned to “rise above” their injuries and “give back” to their communities. People are defeated by their crisis if they become their crisis, letting it rule their lives. The key is to recognize a crisis for what it is—a turning point and an opportunity.
I refused to let a landmine rob more than my leg. It couldn’t make me less of a whole person unless I let it do so. I would never define myself by a piece of me or by one aspect of my past. I don’t think of myself as “an amputee”…just a regular guy who happens to be missing a leg. Survivors who believe they are more than their bodies have an advantage. Faith and a sense of humor are hallmarks of resilient personalities.
Question: Do you think there are fundamental differences between starting an organization like Survivor Corps and a for-profit company?
Answer: I don’t see a big difference. The entrepreneurial impulse is the same across borders, even when there are different motives behind it. Some search for profits; others seek “higher profits.” Still, a balance sheet is a balance sheet. Cash flow is what it is. Revenue and expenses are simple math for any company or nonprofit organization. I have spent my whole professional career as a social sector guy because I am primarily motivated to address the mass market of growing numbers of marginalized people in need. I don’t call them “customers” or “clients,” but others could.
As I earned my MBA from the University of Michigan, I was increasingly convinced that the dynamics of organizational development are the same for non-profits and for-profits alike. I do think businesses could learn more from the nonprofit sector, particularly with regard to tapping into intrinsic motivation, mission drive and passion. “Increasing shareholder value” is not a sustainable mission statement or business strategy. Employees want and deserve more.
Question: What are the challenges of starting an organization that serves people thousands of miles away from most of your supporters?
Answer: It is a challenge for people to feel empathy and compassion across oceans. It’s a fact of life that most charitable giving, like politics, is local. Less than three percent of American private philanthropy goes to international causes or organizations. Americans are very generous, but most of their gifts go to churches, synagogues, hospitals, schools and cultural institutions in our backyards.
I once sat in on a focus group and heard many participants admit they would be more likely to give to an international organization like Survivor Corps if they also knew we were helping survivors here at home, such as veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. And we are. The United States is a very war-affected nation. We must have strategies to reach out and connect conflict survivors to offer support and promote successful community reintegration after war and violence.
Question: What’s your step-by-step recommendation for someone who wants to “change the world” like you have?
Answer: Look at your own life circumstances and take the Survivor Pledge: 1) I will not be a victim. 2) I will rise above. 3) I will give back. 4) I will change the world.
As His Holiness the Dalai Lama once told me, “We have to remove the landmines from our own hearts first, before we can fully demine the world and bring peace.” So take a peak within, then gain some perspective to rise above self-centeredness and reach out to others in need. It can be scary at first because it requires us to get out of our comfort zones and cross boundaries and barriers to meet people who seem different, marginalized, threatening at first.
The question becomes not whether to be a global citizen—we all are—but how best to become an active one. And it gets personal, because you have to get to know yourself and ask: Who am I? What do I care about? What am I good at? How can I help appropriately? And then align these things in our lives, our work, our giving patterns. Give locally; act globally. Or give globally; act locally. Do it your way by mixing it up, have fun as you learn your unique value-add place in the world. Turns out that giving is simply good for you. Like exercise, it boosts your serotonin levels.
Question: What exactly happens when you win a Nobel Prize?
Answer: It was certainly exciting to be in Oslo in December 1997, joining with leaders of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. A few weeks earlier, we had gathered together in DC to hear the news and jump for joy. The ceremonies are exquisite, replete with great musical performances and speeches and an audience with the Norwegian Royal Family. All heady stuff, and great fun.
But, as we raised our champagne glasses, I worried that this public attention would move on from landmines, even as our work had only just begun. Tens of millions of mines still had to be destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of mine victims and their families desperately need our help. 1997 was a big year for our survivor movement. We worked closely with Diana, Princess of Wales. We launched innovative survivor networks worldwide. We helped draft and negotiate the historic 1997 Mine Ban Treaty—the first arms control treaty with specific obligations to help the victims of a weapon recover and reintegrate.
Ten years later, we reunited in Oslo, Norway, to celebrate our progress. Today, casualty rates are down from 26,000 victims per year to south of 8,000 (still too many, but progress nonetheless). Tens of millions of mine have been destroyed and demined. Survivor Rights are starting to be recognized worldwide. Still more to be done, but a great survivor success story, worthy of the Nobel Prize of Peace. We are both proud and humbled to share this honor.
If you'd like to read more about people doing good, please check out Good.alltop.com.
In 2006 I wrote about Vyew and asked the obvious question: “Does the world need another web conferencing product?” I guess the answer is "yes" because the company is now profitable and has 100,000 registered users.
Vyew combines real-time (synchronous) conferencing and desktop sharing with always-on (asynchronous) collaboration such as highlighting, drawing, text and sidebar comments and sticky notes. This allows groups to have a live meeting and also carry on a contextual forum discussion over time at their convenience. It's a browser-only cross-platform tool without the need for any client installation. You can upload any form of digital content (files, images, audio, video, etc.) into the Vyew space for collaboration and learning. Also, Flash learning objects that were originally for individual use can be turned into collaborative learning objects inside Vyew.
Vyew is useful in situations that requires collaboration, review and approval. For example, graphic and industrial designers, architects, marketing, PR and legal professionals, event planners, etc. can upload drawings, brochures, news releases, contracts, audio, and video files to Vyew where the content can be accessed and annotated from anywhere with no need to install Vyew or the software that created the content. If you need such a tool, check it out here because this is a Reality Check success story.
A few weeks ago I was in Charlotte to make a speech for Network Solutions, and I met Justin Ruckman. He handed me his business card--which I just loved. For once, a business card that cuts to the chase and is readable. Hallelujah! So I asked him to make business cards for me. Take a look at your business card: Can people really read the 8 point type? If you want Justin to make business cards for you, his site is here.
I went to the Maker Faire in San Mateo this weekend. I had no idea these things are so popular--so much so that I gave up the first time and returned in the early evening when there was more parking and a shorter ticket line. Think: Macworld Expo meets Burning Man meets MythBusters meets Woodstock. Here are a mere fifty pictures to show you what you missed. One thing is for sure, the Faire could keep Stuff White People Like busy for a month or two.
There was lots of bikes made up of various other vehicle parts. For example, this is a lawnmower bike.
A skateboard/bike hybrid.
And a steering-behind-your-back bike.
A tiger bike.
This is the Unwheeldy tandem bike. The wheels are nine feet in diameter.
Yes, these are cupcake vehicles.
Perhaps venture capital firms can use this to replace their Mercedes, Porsches, and Ferraris.
My favorite vehicle was the motorized Barcalounger.
This is your basic 1956 Ford 100 converted to run on bio-diesel. The fuel tank is a 150-gallon drum.
Our buddies from TechShop were there in full force.
This is VW amphibious "car." That's Jim Newton from TechShop standing to the right of it--a safe distance from the propeller.
This is a van with metal wings.
Everyone should have one Lego Jeep for when you need to express yourself.
This is the "Lift Ass It." It helps people get off the toilet--kind of a vertical market if you ask me.
This is an algae machine from theshipyard.org.
This is the dinosaur-theme mini golf course.
Geeks love to make huge statues of women--at least I think they were women. There's some deep psychological meaning in this.
This was some kind of robotic razor-looking ball called a Swarm.
This is the "Robotic Warship Combat Arena."
Miniature boats do battle with each other by shooting BBs.
The Loch Ness monster made an appearance too.
This is the Savonius wind-power home generator.
This is a table covered with sand on which a boll rolls and makes pretty designs.
Ball in action using high-speed photography.
And of course what's a weekend without Powertool drag racing?
These things were used to destroy mannequins.
There is a large fascination with fire. This is the setup to create a bunch of large flames.
This apparatus created hydrogen bubbles.
Then people with electric prods exploded the bubbles.
This is someone photographing the exploding hydrogen bubble exhibit from behind protection.
No geek faire is complete without a Diet Coke and Mentos kit.
This is the BlubberBot Blimp kit.
Now this is an intriguing book title.
If you want more coverage of gadgets, check out this Alltop site
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