Blogmatic

Cause I ain’t been nuttin but sad.

That’s right I will be downgrading to an older more familiar platform. My son gave me Windows XP upgrade package for xmas and I will be downgrading to XP. Thank you Bubba.

No more Vista ranting or whining in the New Year.  It is with some regret that I downgrade, because Vista has been an inspiration for so many blog posts.

Wishing everyone health, prosperity and happiness in the new year. Have a wonderful 2008.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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Potter has marketing’s four P’s. Well, I have given some thought to my previous post and come up with Entrepreneurships, 3 P’s. The 3 P’s are:

Passion
Persistence
Patience

The first two P’s from my previous post and the third based on my experiences with TheCodeFactory. The third P (Patience) is required to moderate the first two P’s. Passion and persistence unchecked can create pest. Patience tempers persistence and enables the ability to know when to push and when to back off. Patience also softens passion and lets you know when to be enthusiastic and when to listen.

Have a wonderful Christams and New Years.

Cheers,

Ian Graham

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My daughter received an aquarium as a present a few years ago. Various groups of fish have passed through the space over the years. When we add new fish one or two of the old ones seem to die from some sort of new disease or the other.

Anyway the latest batch of fish had almost been dispatched and we were thinking about what to get next. One of the goldfish developed fin rot. Fin rot eats away at the goldfishes fins until there is nothing left but the body. Once they are down to the final bit of fin the fish tend to get sucked into the skimmer and die. Sad but part of the circle of life in the fish tank and the thought was let’s let nature take its course.

Finless Fred, as I started to call this tenacious little fin rotted gold fish, wanted no part of being sucked into the skimmer to die. It would swim with all its might on the little fin remnants refusing to become fodder for the flush of doom. About a week ago Fred started to grow his fins back, our little gold fish Christmas miracle. I think Fred is going to make, that is one determined little goldfish.

Through out the entire ordeal Fred has earned my respect and admiration. I think he/she is an entrepreneur at heart by refusing to give up and continuing to fight.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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A new series of Mac and PC ads have hit the airwaves. The ads have been available for sometime on the internet but have recently moved to prime time. Like their predecessors the ads are witty, funny and anatomically correct.

The latest ads attack Vista more directly than the previous ones. My favourite line is when PC Guy says “Ask not what Vista can do for you but what you can buy for Vista.” How appropriate considering it is an election year (or almost) south of the boarder and all. I believe there are three ads in the series, PC Guy on the podium, PC Guy with PR person and one other. Anyway all great fun to watch.

Here is a thought for the good folks bringing us those most excellent ads. Why not have an election between the PC Guy and Mac Kid. This could be a whole lot of fun and could provide some excellent metrics to measure the impact and reach of the campaigns. Another thought, have a facebook group for the Mac Guy. Plenty more ideas but the two above could probably generate some significant interest.

It seems that the Mac Kid smells blood and is moving in for the kill. The PC Guy, however, is a real behemoth with plenty of staying power. Look forward to the year end results from Apple, HP and Dell. When the major three have released results I will attempt to have an update on the PC versus Mac market share.

Cheers,
Ian Graham

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There was much hoopla ha tonight on CTV news (formerly CJOH) about Plasco Energy getting $54M in funding. Don’t know all the details but must admit that it sounds pretty good. However, let’s not start celebrating too early.

First of all a large financing round this early means that investors are buying into the idea not a proven business model and details about ownership of the corporation and technology would be helpful in analyzing the deal. What would impress me is if Plasco had sold, installed and commissioned several units and was cash flow positive, that would be really impressive.

World Heart sounded like a good idea and raised significant funds, the Life Sciences council seemed like a great idea at the time and there are other area start-ups like Innovance that raised significant early stage capital. Market place success will be the true validation of Plasco’s technology. I believe that there is a certain amount of irrational exuberance in the cleantech sector.

My Blogmatic prediction is that the devil is in the detail for large projects like garbage to power conversion and time to success (profitability) is much farther away than today’s dog and pony show on the evening news would have one believe. Wishing them well and hoping their investments leads to commercialization success. Real success in commercialization is market validation and profitability.

Cheers,

Ian Graham

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