with Auren
Hoffman
Month of December,
2001
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Summation Push Auren Hoffman's Summation Push for December, 2001 This issue: * Creating Local Energy Sources: Wireless Energy * New Airline Security Law is Flawed * Random Thought: Turn Back the Clock * Sales Tips Using E-mail * Book Review: Guns, Germs, and Steel * Movie to See: Spy Game * Reader Responses to FBI Story * Friend of Auren: Gil Amelio * Summation Push Pick Links * Hoffman Reading List -------------------------------- CREATING LOCAL ENERGY SOURCES The problem with electricity is the wires.
Most of our energy is created by oil and coal burning generators and then piped into millions of homes and businesses.
Imagine a new way of bringing energy to you: every appliance has its own energy source. Attached to your computer, your light-bulb, or your refrigerator is a small power generator. OK -- now think smaller -- how about a generator to power a micro-motor?lo Think this is just pie-in-the-sky? Engineering Professors Carlos Fernandez-Pello and Albert Pisano (U.C. Berkeley) is well on his way to success (see: http://www.me.berkeley.edu/cpl/). The Berkeley Engineering Forefront magazine had a good article on this: "One fluid once of kerosene, some 29000 cubic millimeters -- the size of a small, hotel-sized bottle of shampoo -- could generate enough power to run a digital wristwatch for 1466 years. 'If you are talking about power per pound of fuel,' he says, 'fuel inefficiently burned still whomps the daylights out of batteries.' Because of this, micro-engines should prove particularly effective anywhere you need small, long-lasting power sources, such as in satellites, or for remote or autonomous systems or sensors."
What if your laptop only needed to recharge every month?
(What are your thoughts?
Write auren@summation.net) -------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------- NEW AIRLINE SECURITY LAW IS FLAWED
I'm not very high on the recent airline security law passed by Congress and signed by President Bush. There are two specific items in the bill that I think are threats to our national security:
First: Second: George Orwell once wrote that there is an acute difference between patriotism and nationalism. Patriotism is good -- you can never have too much patriotism. Nationalism, by contrast, can be very destructive and often involves pitting one group against another. You don't have to be a U.S. citizen to fight in the Army -- why do you have to be one to do airline security? (What are your thoughts? Write auren@summation.net) -------------------------------- Share Summation Push. Forward it
to RANDOM THOUGHT: TURNING BACK THE CLOCK: [This parody is a reprint. It first appeared in Summation on March 30, 1997]
To appease early morning commuters, we turn the clocks back every Fall. Like many of you, I am always extremely happy when I find out that I can sleep for an extra hour. Unfortunately, in the Spring we set the clocks ahead an hour ("spring forward, fall back") and end up losing valuable sleep.
But during the extra hour of sleep this Fall, I did more that just sleep - I stumbled onto Hoffman's Postulate which says: "An extra hour of sleep every week increases productivity."
After coming to terms with my new discovery, I set about creating the Hoffman Plan - daylight savings every week! That's right, every Sunday, at 2 am, we turn back our clocks an hour. This will do five things:
1. Increase Sleep
As stated before, an extra hour of sleep will do a lot of good for a lot of people (especially insomniacs and people who always say "sleep on it"). So, with daylight savings hour every week, you can use Sundays to catch up on your sleep and still wake up in time to catch the East Coast football games or the Sunday morning politico talks.
2. Increase Nightlife
With the Hoffman Plan, business hours (9am - 5pm) would be during the dark for half the year and during the light for the other half year. Since there are 24 hours in a day and 52 weeks in a year, every type of day will happen at least twice a year. Many people are afraid to go out at night because the dark is not conducive to a safe environment. However, with the Hoffman Plan, many of the nights will be lit by the sun and socializing after work and school will be commonplace.
3. Increase Safety
Since a large portion of business will be done while it's dark outside, the government will be more inclined to buy brighter streetlights and sidewalk lights. These new lights will scare away criminals (and also provide growth to vegetation which will cure our ozone problem).
4. More Sunlight Baseball
To make money, baseball has to be played after work so fans can go to the stadium. However, many fans and players would be much happier if they could see baseball by sunlight rather than by artificial light. Of course, the electric companies might be a little upset.
5. Make International Calling Easier
Since the US would be the only country bold enough to implement the Hoffman Plan, calling your relatives in distant countries would become much easier because for part of the year you would be on a relatively similar time schedule. This way, you can talk to your grandparents in Moscow without having to wake up at 6 am. Of course, with all the changing times, you may never remember what time it is in other countries - but every great idea has its drawbacks...
Please call your Congressman today and advocate for the Hoffman Plan - the ultimate in daylight savings!
(What are your thoughts? Write auren@summation.net) -------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague.
SELLING VIA EMAIL Everyone knows e-mail is a good tool to use in selling, but how do you get the most of it?
I recently wrote a chapter on the topic for a new book (to published shortly) entitled "21st Century Selling." An excerpt from the chapter is available here:
http://www.summation.net/emailselling.html
-------------------------------- Share Summation Push. Forward it
to Book Review: This was one of the most interesting books I have read in a long time. Diamond attempts to answer the question of why did Europe conquer Africa, the Americas, and some of Asia and not the other way around? Why did China become a strong and unified giant nation while Europe split up into many nations? How did Pizarro kill so many people with so few men? Guns, Germs, and Steel takes us through a journey of the history of man and is a must read for anyone that wants to attempt to understand the world we live in and how it got there. Summation: Must Read.
(To see more book reviews, check out the Hoffman Reading List at http://www.summation.net/reading.html) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Movie: Watch Spy Game
If you are going to watch one movie this holiday season see Spy Game with Robert Redford and Brad Pitt. The movie has a bit of everything -- love story, action, government conspiracy, drama, and current events. Though a bit far-fetched (it was made in Hollywood) it packs just enough realism to make it an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- The objective of Summation is to -------------------------------------------------------------------- READER RESPONSES AND OPINIONS Regarding the commentary on my experience being questioned by the FBI, Roger Ireland remarks: "Obviously, we've never met and it seems odd to say the following to someone you've never met, but I'm proud of you. The message I received related to your experience with the FBI is inspiring. Voluntarily subjecting yourself to an FBI investigation must by unnerving and certainly inconvenient. Regardless, you held your head high and performed your civic duty. If find it inspiring because you were willing to make the sacrifice.
... and David Strom writes: "Sometimes it is better NOT to be on the leading curve. Yikes. I would have
been a lot less cool. I am concerned that all the push towards 'homeland security' will abrogate various individual rights. As a friend of mine said, now we will have Carnivore on every subnet."
... and Andrew Boer writes:
" Wow! So I bet Carnivore is reading this right now... Amazing story, Auren. Well I guess you can't complain that no one reads Summation. " Regarding the commentary that future CEOs may have HR backgrounds, Kenneth Leung remarks:
"I don't think we will see CEO's coming from HR track very often in the US because here being a CEO is about working with the outside forces (shareholders, board members, customers, analysts) and the metrics of success is also external (Shareholder value, market cap, profits, revenue). I don't think too many boards would appoint an HR person to be CEO."
(Write Auren Your Thoughts: Write auren@summation.net) -------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------- FRIENDS OF AUREN [this section updates you an interesting person
that is a member of Auren Inc] Gil Amelio, Managing General Partner at Sienna Ventures
I was at a breakfast for Steve Forbes four years ago (Fall, 1997) and the person sitting next to me looked really familiar. After striking up a conversation about our tax burden and Congressional spending, I realized I was sitting next to Gil Amelio who had just recently left Apple Computer as CEO.
At the time I was 23 and only had been in the technology business for 2 years. Having a conversation with Gil -- who before Apple was the CEO of National Semiconductor and before that was CEO of Rockwell Communication Systems -- was the highlight of those months.
Gil took a liking to me and invited me to lunch the next month and has given me terrific help and advice ever since. Today Gil is a successful telecommunications VC and a regular at the Silicon Forum.
Gil earned Bachelors, Masters and Doctorate degrees in Physics from the Georgia Institute of Technology. He is an IEEE Fellow and has been awarded 16 patents.
See past profiled people at: http://www.summation.net/friends.html.
-------------------------------- Send Summation Push to a colleague. -------------------------------- THIS WEEK'S SUMMATION PUSH PICK LINKS TO MAKE YOU THINK:
* Infotriever
(http://www.infotriever.com) -- site to organize your contacts and sync with MS Outlook.
NOTE: Auren Hoffman works for BridgePath Corporation but the opinions expressed
herein are solely those of Mr. Hoffman. NOTE: You may reprint in full or in part (for
free) with permission from author. Auren Hoffman's bio can be found at: (http://www.bridgepath.com/about/management.html/) ------------------------------------ Subscribe? Unsubscribe? Comment? E-mail: auren@summation.net
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