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| | The May Report: 1/08/2009: Novarra's Jayanthi Rangaraja steps down, firm cuts 20% & hires new sales VP; crowdSPRING; InChargesys, Authentify, All Cell & Don Schultz draws 110 on a cold Jan. morn.
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| | January 8, 2009
The May Report: 1/08/2009: Novarra's Jayanthi Rangaraja steps down, firm cuts 20% & hires new sales VP; crowdSPRING; InChargesys, Authentify, All Cell & Don Schultz draws 110 on a cold Jan. morn.
Editor and publisher: ron@themayreport.com, ronaldmay@aol.com, www.themayreport.com, 773-525-3944.
If you missed an article, go here: http://www.tmronline.com/A55951/tmrarticles.nsf/vwFullNewsletter
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Innovation and the 2008 Presidential CampaignCURRENTLY, THE EVENT IS FULL. HOWEVER, EVERY EVENT HAS HAD NO-SHOWS AND CANCELLATIONS.
TO BE PLACED ON THE WAITING LIST, AT THE EARLY REGISTRATION FEE, EMAIL SPENCER MAUS. YOUR ORDER ON THE WAITING LIST WILL BE DETERMINED BY THE TIME STAMP ON YOUR EMAIL.
presented by
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Enterprise Forum of Chicago
WHEN: January 13, 2009
WHERE: Bell Boyd & Lloyd Conference Center
CONTACT: Spencer Maus 312-223-9536 info@mitefchicago.org
MEDIA CONTACT: Collin Canright 773-426-7000 communications@mitefchicago.org
THE PROGRAM:
On January 13, 2009, our noteworthy panel and moderator will discuss the innovative use of technologies by the Obama for America campaign, and other organizations throughout the 2008 Presidential primaries and election. Do to the expected interest in this MIT Enterprise Forum event, seating will be limited and registration for the event will be on a first registered, first served basis.
Scheduled Moderator
Ravi Baichwal is a news anchor and reporter at WLS-TV. In 2008 he won the Emmy Award for best anchor (Chicago/Midwest) from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Previously he was a CTV Newsnet Morning anchor from 2002 to 2006. He was also a correspondent for CTV National News.
Scheduled Panelists
Kevin Malover was the Chief Technology Officer at Obama for America from February 2007 until January 2008. Previously he was the Chief Informational Officer for Orbitz. Today his serves as the Chief Information Officer for GTCR Goldner Rauner.
Steve Rhodes is a Chicago journalist and the founder and editor of The Beachwood Reporter, a Chicago-centric webzine that launched in February 2006; and writes the political blog for NBCChicago.com. Before starting the Beachwood Reporter, Rhodes was a reporter for Chicago magazine and wrote "Press Box", a media column on the magazine's Web site. Before that, he worked for Newsweek and the Chicago Tribune. Rhodes has been a guest on WTTW's Chicago Tonight and Fox News Sunday.
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The Entrepreneurial Quest® GROW Peer Roundtable
Presented by the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center at DePaul University
Begins Friday, January 16, 2009
8:00 - 11:00am
DePaul Center, 1 E. Jackson Blvd.
Roundtable will meet the third Friday of every month, January - December 2009
Register at http://cec.depaul.edu/calendar/2009/01/the-entrepreneurial-quest-grow.php.
The Coleman Entrepreneurship Center is pleased to announce our newest program, the GROW Peer Roundtable, to help business owners: have a trusted sounding board of peers to address business challenges and issues; make consistent progress toward business goals and objectives; generate new ideas to grow and expand their business; and use their experience to help solve common business problems of peers.
To be eligible, each member's business must meet the following requirements:
Annual revenue of $250,000 - $5 million
Minimum of two full-time employees in addition to founder(s)
In business for more than two years
Annual membership to participate in the Roundtable is $1,800. A $500 deposit is due upon registering with the remaining balance due no later than January 9, 2009.
Review the membership agreement at http://cec.depaul.edu/peer-roundtable/the-entrepreneurial-questr-grow-peer-roundtable.php.
Register at http://cec.depaul.edu/calendar/2009/01/the-entrepreneurial-quest-grow.php.
FACILITATOR
Bruce Leech founded CrossCom National, Inc. in 1981, a company that recently reached $100 million in annual revenues. CrossCom installs and services voice and data systems for large US retailers like Wal-Mart, Blockbuster Video, and TJ Maxx. In 2004, Bruce sold a majority interest in the firm to Goense/Bounds, a private equity firm, and continues to serve on the company's Board of Directors. Bruce is a partner with BTA Enterprises and Evanston Advisors, companies that provide consulting services to business owners related to business transition and financial planning. Having been through this process himself, Bruce is able to provide insight into this very important area in the life of the business owner. Furthermore, he serves as an advisor to several companies and is involved with a number of non-profit organizations and educational institutions. Bruce earned his bachelor's degree from Michigan State University, and an MBA from DePaul University.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Scoop section:
-- Novarra's Jayanthi Rangarajan steps down and firm cuts 35% of staff
-- Warren Bent: InCharge Systems presentation at BNC Tuesday night
-- Len Bland on the BNC Venture Capital Group, including a link with all their past meetings
-- Joe Libuszowski: Security state of mobile network's
-- Ron Kirschner: All Cell Technologies (2 messages)
-- FMLA and ADA Update: New Rules Take Effect After New Year
-- Layton Olson: Digital Illinois: Proposal Transparent Town Halls for $775 billion investments
-- John Zurawski: HSBC Deploys Authentify
-- Ross Kimbarovsky: crowdSPRING, an update
-- Briefly noted, by Ron May
-- Brad Spirrison writes about predictions for 2009 from Razorfish Central President David Friedman, American Electronics Association Midwest executive director Ed Longanecker, Heartland Angels President Ron Kirschner and "The Twitter Survival Guide" co-author Kristin Nicole
-- Another Don Samuelson thread: Creating Efficiencies out of Social Networking Tools
-- Scott Wolf: Sleep Well, Your Life May Depend on it - Central Sleep Diagnostics Provides Attended Home Sleep Studies
-- Randy Blankenhorn: Updates on CMAP
-- Mark Olson: BFG Tech Launches first full system -- Phobos
-- Andy Sernovitz: Big event on January 22nd: BlogWell: How Big Companies Use Social Media
-- Upcoming ITDA events
-- MSPC January Meeting Announcement , Wednesday Jan. 7th -- oops, we missed that one
-- Readers' comments and responses (
-- A blog posting on Androcass you may find interesting -- remember this guy has never met me or been hit by my cane, so he is much nicer than is justified -- but nonetheless I take this as a high compliment and I should have lunch with this guy
[Editor's note: May here. A few things I had to cut will be in next time including three or four comScore reports. Plus we have a few more events such as the David Hale talk on the 15th and an Inauguration notice.]
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The Scoop section:
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Novarra's Jayanthi Rangarajan steps down and firm cuts 35% of staff
From: Name withheld upon request
Subject: Re: Novarra News
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:31:52 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com
Forgot to ask to omit my name/email, as I am obviously not authorized to speak on company's behalf. :-)
Name withheld wrote:
Hello Ron,
Don't know if you're interested, but Novarra (http://www.novarra.com), an Itasca based mobile software development company, has had a few changes lately. Jayanthi Rangarajan, a long time CEO and a subject of a few debates in TMR back in 2002, has stepped down and was replaced by COO Bruce Simpson. The company has laid off 35 people, about 20% of the staff, but hired a new VP of Sales, who was previously with ZTE.
Cheers,
[Name withheld upon request]
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Warren Bent: InCharge Systems presentation at BNC Tuesday night
From: warrenbent@inchargesys.com
Subject: InCharge Systems presentation at BNC last night
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:59:15 -0700
To: ron@themayreport.com
Hi, Ron
It was good getting a chance to chat for a few minutes following last nights presentations.
Ten minutes presentations can be a challenge for those like ourselves at InCharge Systems who are creating new technologies. I thought I'd pass on a quick clarification regarding your notes from my presentation that I probably did not explain real well last night.
InCharge Systems does not offer phone numbers, and as such does not expect to have 5% of the worlds phone numbers by 2013. Instead, ACerted Trust is InCharge Systems solution that serves as a network independent certification authority to the Internet communications market, providing secure authentication and validation, and supporting user privacy. This "trust glue" supports the transition from the "trust by wire" of the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to "trust by authentication" on an IP network, by creating a telephone number-based digital ID. What I should have made more clear last night is that the figures being discussed were the number of worldwide phone numbers for which we expect to provide authentication and validation services, utilizing that telephone number-based digital ID.
On a related note, InCharge Systems recently announced that my associate Willhelm Wimmreuter, our VP of International Operations and myself will host two open demonstrations of ACerted Trust next week. The first will be held at the Illinois Institute of Technology Rice Campus, 201 East Loop Road, Wheaton, IL on Wednesday, January 14 at 1:00 PM, and will be repeated again at the Illinois Technology Association, 200 South Wacker, 15th Floor, Chicago, IL. on Thursday, January 15 at 1:00 PM. Each of these sessions will last no more than 1 hour. Here is a link that offers a little more detail on the demo's:
http://www.inchargesys.com/ics_news.html
Our demo's should provide a more illustrative example of exactly what ACerted Trust accomplishes, and I'd encourage anybody who has an interest in learning more to join us next week.
Thank you and best wishes.
Warren
Warren Bent
Vice President - Sales & Marketing
InCharge Systems
630.474.9451 (office)
630.901.4826 (mobile)
warrenbent@inchargesys.com
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Len Bland on the BNC Venture Capital Group, including a link with all their past meetings
Subject: BNC VC Group
Date: 1/7/2009 4:05:41 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: len_bland@conceptequity.com
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
Ron,
I'm glad you were able to attend the meeting last night and hope you can attend the next meeting. We try to schedule for the first Tuesday of each month and believe that our next meeting will be on 2/4 at the same location.
Last BNC Venture Capital Group Meeting
http://conceptequity.com/BNCVCGroup.htm
Join BNC Venture Capital Group notification list
http://visitor.constantcontact.com/email.jsp?m=1101545875225
Regards,
Len Bland, CPA
CEO
len_bland@conceptequity.com
Phone: 847-317-0656
Mobile: 847-226-3921
Fax: 847-919-4396
www.conceptequity.com
The Art of Bootstrapping
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Joe Libuszowski: Security state of mobile network's
From: JOSEPH LIBUSZOWSKI joe@libbs.net
Subject: Security state of mobile network's
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 20:26:52 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com
Hi Ron,
Hope your doing well with your doctor's. I am working with a fellow security professional and we are looking at starting a security consulting company in March of this year.
I though you may be interested in some of the work we had done in the past- I've posted an updated link on my blog at http://www.libbs.net .
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MOBILE SECURITY WORK- THAT WE DID IN 2003-2004(For Hilton Family)
January 8th, 2009 · No Comments
In 2003 one of the immature hackers we knew infiltrated Paris hilton's Tmobile account and posted the numbers to our network security group. Nicholas Lee Jacobsen who had gained access to the account, quickly started posting the list to several online sources. Using the technology Lucky225, Majestic, and I developed Automatic Number Indentification (ANI) services, allowing individuals to utilize our vxml scripts to place calls that showed alternate numbers (now commonly referred to as call spoofing). Shortly thereafter, we made several calls to Nikki & Paris Hilton as well as other celebrity's informing them of the potential security breach. Including the call posted that we were on that's located at Wired Magazine: Helpful hacker's teach Paris Hilton a Security Lesson.
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--
Respectfully,
Joseph A. Libuszowski
(V) 206-452-2049
(E) joe@libbs.net
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Ron Kirschner: All Cell Technologies (2 messages)
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#1: From: Ron Kirschner ron.kirschner@comcast.net
Subject: Just a note
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 18:19:48 -0600
To: Ron MAY ron@themayreport.com
You put the press release from ACG in your newsletter. I don't know if you remember, but Heartland Angels investing in All Cell Technologies, Inc., one of the companies part of the National Alliance.
Ron Kirschner, M.D.
Heartland Angles
CHICAGO, December 23, 2008 - The Chicago chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth, the premier professional organization focused on corporate growth, corporate development and mergers and acquisitions, provided the impetus for the nation's first National Alliance for Advanced Transportation Battery Cell Manufacture when it invited these key players to participate in its Advanced Automobile Battery Investment Summit in June.
Corporate executives, scientific leaders and educational institutions came together for the summit to address the latest developments, and the need to create a state-of-the-art lithium ion battery manufacturing facility became evident. The relationships built at this conference and the ongoing dedication of those participants resulted in the formation of the Alliance, the development of a mission to solve the nation's needs in this critical area and the funding proposal recently presented to the federal government.
"This is just one example of how effective collaboration can be, bringing the country's top leaders together to influence and protect our nation's growth, investment and technology advancement," said Craig Miller, CEO of ACG Chicago. "The formation of the Alliance is a turning point for the U.S. battery industry and ACG Chicago is proud to be its catalyst."
The billion-dollar proposal seeks to develop one or more manufacturing and prototype development centers in the U.S. for Alliance members to design, test and manufacture proprietary and semi-proprietary large format lithium-ion battery cells that will power next generation motor vehicles. Lithium ion batteries are anticipated to be the key electric storage technology for transportation, and substantially reduce the need for gasoline as a source of energy.
In the 1980s, a government-supported collaboration called Sematech helped the U.S. regain its leadership role in semiconductor manufacturing. The Alliance is modeled after that success, leading the cleantech industry in the 21st century. Today, U.S. automobile manufacturers and defense contractors depend upon foreign suppliers for lithium ion battery cells. The Alliance will allow this key U.S. industry to develop, build and retain technology leadership. As a result of the Alliance's proposal, the federal government will require any U.S. automaker receiving a government subsidy to give preference to the purchase of batteries from the Alliance, keeping jobs and opportunity in the country.
"ACG Chicago provided important resources to the battery alliance that permitted its members to organize," stated Jim Greenberger, ACG Chicago Venture Network Chair and attorney for the Alliance. "If the American auto industry survives into the 21st century because it is able to move from internal combustible engines to electricity-based drive trains, ACG Chicago will have played an important role in facilitating that survival."
The Alliance is made up of influential organizations from across the country, including 3M, ActaCell, All Cell Technologies, Altair Nanotechnologies, Dontech Global, EaglePicher Corporation, EnerSys, Envia Systems, FMC, Johnson Controls-Saft, MicroSun Technologies, Mobius Power, SiLyte, Superior Graphite and Townsend Advanced Energy.
About ACG Chicago
Celebrating its 40th year, ACG Chicago is Northern Illinois' premier association for corporate development, investment and merger and acquisition professionals. A leader in the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) global network of 12,000 professionals, ACG Chicago has produced collaborative conferences that bring together business, academic, research and government organizations, enhancing economic development from early stage cleantech investments to international business development. It boasts a membership of more than 1,000 foremost authorities who form a diverse and knowledgeable network of corporate executives, capital sources, corporate advisors and service providers that all share a strong commitment to leadership in the field of strategic corporate growth. ACG Chicago - recipient of recent overall and programming global awards - provides its members with professional and business development opportunities as well as the most current information through its ongoing luncheon series, breakfast seminars, regional conferences, in-depth publications and social events. Visit www.ACGChicago.com for more information.
###
Contact: Allyson Marcus
312.755.3592, allyson.marcus@kemperlesnik.com
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#2: Subject: All Cell Technologies: A Heartland Angels Investment
Date: 1/4/2009 12:13:44 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: ron.kirschner@comcast.net
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
ALL CELL is doing very well. They are very likely to go cash flow positive in 2009. Most of their technology is of benefit in the alternative energy transportation markets: auto, electric bike and scooters both in the United States, Europe and the Far East.
Ron
On Jan 3, 2009, at 2:18 AM, RONALDMAY@aol.com wrote:
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FMLA and ADA Update: New Rules Take Effect After New Year
From: Freeborn & Peters LLP marketing@freebornpeters.com
Subject: FMLA and ADA Update: New Rules Take Effect After New Year
Date: Fri, 02 Jan 2009 07:31:46 -0600
To:
To view this email as a web page, go here.
New ADA Amendments Take Effect January 1, 2009
Employers will return to work after the holidays to face an expansion of the disability rights of employees, as a result of the ADA Amendments Act of 2008, which is effective January 1, 2009. Although the Act represents a compromise between the terms of the original bill, referred to as the ADA Restoration Act, and business interests, it still expands the protections under the ADA.
Read more...
New FMLA Regulations Take Effect January 16, 2009
On November 17, 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor ("DOL") published new regulations under the Family Medical Leave Act ("FMLA"). These regulations are scheduled to take effect on January 16, 2009. In addition to organizational changes, such as renumbering and reorganizing certain provision, the new regulations modify some previous interpretations and definitions. The DOL also issued new regulations concerning qualifying exigency leave and military caregiver leave.
Read more...
The regulations and the DOL's commentary are available here.
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Layton Olson: Digital Illinois: Proposal Transparent Town Halls for $775 billion investments
From: Layton E. Olson leo@howehutton.com
Subject: Digital Illinois: Proposal Transparent Town Halls for $775 billion investments
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 17:24:21 -0600
To: Layton E. Olson leo@howehutton.com
Community technology and communication colleagues,
Below is method for using Broadband as a "local process tool" -- as well as a longer term investment -- starting with immediate need for credible and transparent investment of Economic recovery and investment funds. This will be submitted in testimony to U.S. House in the coming week, as part of Transparency process which includes proposals for one-week Internet postings of potential Stimulus investments, which we would suggest be broken out by each Congressional District or portion of Congressional District. These 5 Golden Recommendations were distributed today at gathering of Technology for Humanity meeting at Sinai Community Institute, working with NFL Alumni Chicago on youth technology and education Bound for Glory Program. Sinai Institute and NFL Alumni Chicago are submitting recommendation that Obama transition establish a Youth Technology Corps of the kind which could assist in hosting Transparent Town Halls in West Side Chicago area of 150,000 as well as similar areas in urban and rural America across the country.
Layton Olson
Community Life Initiative
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BROADBAND AS A TOOL FOR TRANSPARENT TOWN HALLS FOR
RESPONSIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENTS OF $700 BILLION:
A proposal for Illinois January 2, 2008
As we in Illinois work with the Federal government for a Responsible Process to manage 2009 Economic Recovery investments, we have opportunities for Local communities to intelligently and flexibly coordinate both short-term job and family security programs and longer term private and public investments.
As a result of several years of work in Illinois, we have statewide and regional networks with the capacity to host community town halls in areas up to 150,000 for community, business, education, health and public leaders. Such broad-based and transparent town halls can quickly help understand and plan short term and longer investments, as well as provide oversight and data on how well they are doing, on a quarter-by-quarter basis.
Economic stimulus proposals include both shovel-ready and longer-term projects in transportation, schools and libraries, water, health care, home security, energy-efficient buildings and industries, tied together thru broadband extension. Proposals include Federal, state and local government commitments, many with important private sector investments.
For America to compete in the world environment, we need More Than Representative Government. That is, we need civic participation by juries of our peers, and the investment of their time and talents as well as their taxes and purchases. In sum, Uncle Sam wants us -- as leaders of communities, businesses, education, health and public bodies - to come together in Transparent and Accountable Town Halls in every area of the country, as the Building Blocks of Safe, Healthy and Resourceful Communties.
Community Town Halls, convened at local "people connector network" anchor institutions, such as hospitals, colleges and community centers, can bring together cross-sections of leaders for visioning and planning, program cooperation, data collection and transparent oversight of projects regardless of the funding source. These networks add up to Digital Government at work in a people-inclusive way with reporting-transparent credibility through widely distributed Internet tools and community media.
To make Illinois a leading Digital Infrastructure state, we begin with 5 Golden Resolutions for 2009:
Illinois General Assembly to complete final passage before mid-January of Illinois House-passed allocation of $5 million in current non-taxpayer funds to match Federal rural healthcare broadband infrastructure funds of $21 million and to undertake medical IT record pilot projects in 15 regions throughout Illinois.
HB 3889
Illinois state and local governments work with all parties to present a coordinated list of short-term and longer-term investments to the Obama Administration and Illinois Congressional delegation, with projects listed on Internet for citizen comment.
Public and private parties in Illinois to cooperate for new era in Transparent Government by reviewing proposed Economic Recovery investments in all 10 Economic Opportunity regions of the state, and in U.S. Census data regions of up to 150,000, or about 4 1/2 Town Hall areas in each Congressional District.
Each local area Town Hall be asked to identify one or more Intelligent
Infrastructure job-creation projects for inclusion in Illinois statewide business locater network and links with university-private sector backed Technology Park system.
Illinois broadband awareness network will initiate consumer-friendly information
activities including graphic-based information concerning Broadband Access and
Digital Skills, including in relation to Digital TV transition in February 2009 and
linked with Transparent Town Hall participation opportunities.
As parties who have worked with Illinois Broadband Deployment Council infrastructure and consumer demand committees, and who have worked to develop Broadband Planning tools for local and regional planning, including through American Planning Association Chicago activities and Digital Government hearing by Illinois House Computer Technology Committee, we seek to work with all public and private parties to invest our time and money as good stewards of safe, healthy and economically resourceful communities throughout Illinois.
Our state is located at the Internet Crossroads of the World, with the most Internet traffic coming through metropolitan Chicago. With these resolutions we can show that we are the State That Net Works, and is ready indeed with the Intelligent Infrastructure to host the 2016 Olympics.
Layton Olson
Community Life Initiative
Howe & Hutton, Ltd.
Chicago
Ron Thomas, ACIP
Regional Planner
Chicago
Dr. Jerry Field
IIT Industrial Management and Technology Program
Chicago
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John Zurawski: HSBC Deploys Authentify
From: John Zurawski john.zurawski@authentify.com
Subject: HSBC Deploys Authentify
Date: Mon, 5 Jan 2009 12:52:33 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com
Hello Ron,
I know we're old news at Authentify in your book - but we still have good things happening. I thought I'd share our latest release with you.
Good luck and good health in the New Year!!
John Zurawski
Vice President, Authentify
Office: 773-243-0328 Mobile: 847-313-5531
HSBC Calls on Authentify to provide Strong
Authentication for Online Accounts
HSBC Deploys Secure Out-of-Band Authentication System. Automated Call Synchronized with Web Session Prevents Fraudulent Transactions
London, U.K., - January 5, 2009 - Authentify, the global leader in out-of-band authentication solutions, today announced that HSBC has deployed Authentify's services to protect online and remote transactions from fraud. HSBC is the world's largest bank by asset size. Authentify's services are invoked automatically to authenticate online users attempting certain transaction types against HSBC accounts. The out-of-band process requires user specific details be entered into the telephone, separately from the Internet side of the exchange. The process isolates the authentication from Internet threats. It becomes much more difficult to hijack or tamper with an account even when armed with compromised identity information.
"Authentify enables HSBC to further validate the user and transaction details in real time while keeping the process convenient", said Peter Tapling, President & CEO of Authentify. "Using a telephone call synchronized to an online session provides a simple, reliable way to strengthen an online process. Authentify was easy to layer in with security mechanisms HSBC already had in place."
In a constantly evolving fraud environment, HSBC is continually evaluating new processes to protect its users and their assets. For some types of exploits, out-of-band technology was evaluated as offering the highest security with the most convenience.
According to Avivah Litan, Vice President and Distinguished Analyst at Gartner Research, "Protecting accounts and transactions from more sophisticated forms of fraud requires layers of security. Out-of-band authentication is one of the layers needed when financial services firms are encountering keystroke loggers and man in the middle exploits. In light of HSBC's global presence, an OOBA solution that works globally is needed.. A process that relies on the telephone makes sense in light of that need."
Historically, more difficult economic times have seen increases in crime. Cybercrime seems to follow a similar pattern. According to Authentify's Tapling, "Out-of-band Authentication, or OOBA, is a strong authentication factor which provides unique protections to HSBC and its customers from Internet attacks that can lead to identity theft. In light of continued warnings about increasing cyber attacks on banks, HSBC's customers can be confident that HSBC is doing everything they can to protect them."
About HSBC
The HSBC Group, headquartered in London, is the largest banking and financial service organization in the world based on asset size. Recently, HSBC also topped the Forbes 2000 list of the world's largest companies, the first time a non-US company has led the rankings since its launch in 2004. The annual index surveyed blue-chip firms in 26 industries across 60 countries and ranked them according to a composite of sales, profits, assets and market value. HSBC is one of five highest performers from the banking industry. HSBC Group serves over 125 million customers worldwide, with more than 10,000 offices in 83 countries.
About Gartner:
Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT) is the world's leading information technology research and advisory company. Gartner delivers the technology-related insight necessary for its clients to make the right decisions, every day. From CIOs and senior IT leaders in corporations and government agencies, to business leaders in high-tech and telecom enterprises and professional services firms, to technology investors, Gartner is the indispensable partner to 60,000 clients in 10,000 distinct organizations. Through the resources of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting and Gartner Events, Gartner works with every client to research, analyze and interpret the business of IT within the context of their individual role. Founded in 1979, Gartner is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S.A., and has 4,000 associates, including 1,200 research analysts and consultants in 80 countries. For more information, visit: www.gartner.com.
About Authentify
Authentify Inc., provides automated authentication services to prominent global businesses, routinely protecting accounts and transactions in more than 150 countries. Authentify delivers an effective authentication process relying on making telephone contact with a user while they are managing an online account. It is a process that is practical for businesses, easy for users and effective worldwide by virtue of leveraging the reach and stability of the public switched telephone network. The company's patented technology employs a message based architecture permitting easy layering with existing technology and infrastructure. The company's primary focus is providing authentication services to enable routine but sensitive processes to complete with high levels of certainty. For more information visit Authentify at: www.authentify.com or contact:
John Zurawski
John.zurawski@authentify.com
773-243-0328
www.authentify.com
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Ross Kimbarovsky: crowdSPRING, an update
From: Ross Kimbarovsky ross@crowdspring.com
Subject: crowdSPRING - An Update
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 11:07:19 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com
Hi Ron,
As we start 2009, I'd like to share with you some news about crowdSPRING.
We launched publicly May 2008 and it's been quite a whirlwind. Just a few days ago, we learned that crowdSPRING won WIRED magazine's Small Biz competition (http://www.crowdspring.com/wired). We're thrilled to have represented Chicago so well in that competition, and really proud of what our team has accomplished in such a short amount of time.
Over the next few months, we'll be speaking at MGFest09 (January 22, 2009), an event sponsored by the Chicago Convergence (http://mgfest.com/09/Chicago/chicagoconvergence.php), and at the South by Southwest 2009 Conference in Austin, Texas (March 22, 2009).
crowdSPRING (http://www.crowdspring.com ) is the creative marketplace. Individuals and companies who need a new logo, stationery, website, blog, product packaging design, marketing materials or other creative content, you post what you need, when you need it and how much you'd like to pay. Once posted, creatives from around the world work on your project and you'll receive actual creative work - not bids or proposals - to review. As the entries come in, you'll be able to review, sort, rate, give feedback and collaborate with creatives until you find "the one".
Over 11,500 creatives (from 140+ countries) work on crowdSPRING. Buyers from 36 countries have posted creative projects and we've paid out over $500,000 in awards to creatives.
We hope to see you at the upcoming MGFest09. And our invite for a game of ping-pong is always open - come visit and have lunch with our team!
Best,
Ross Kimbarovsky
co-Founder
http://www.crowdspring.com
http://blog.crowdspring.com
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Briefly noted, by Ron May
* I learn so much in a 24 hour period, it is hard to keep track.
Since 5:30pm Tuesday evening through 2pm Thursday, I have learned that:
-- Heidi Levin's site has http://home.inklingmarkets.com now moved on from Roland Burris to the subject of who Obama will pick as Chief Technology Officer for the United States. The site said at 2:10pm that there is a 34.4% chance that the choice is Vivek Kundra. Others in contention on her list are Field, Cerf, Gnski, Brown and Dyson.
-- Not only did the World News stand just south of Intelligentsia close last fall, but the bookstore, City Books, just north of Intelligentsia, is closing at the end of February 2009, and on top of that American Apparel right across the street from Argo Tea at Briar and Broadway is moving to the nine hundred block on West Belmont. Suri, the Thai restaurant next door to American Apparel, did not open for lunch today because of a problem in the kitchen and No Hana Sushi restaurant is closed for remodeling. The neighborhood is changing.
-- United Airlines puts soldiers in first class when they have the room. I got this from Julia Jablonska, my friend who lived in my apartment for four years (May 2003 to March 2007 with ten months away for Americorps) and since March 2007, she has lived in Portland. Julia called me Wednesday afternoon from Portland where she landed Weds. afternoon and she told me this. The soldier was a medic and he works security, and Julia sat next to him until they came back to him and thanked him for protecting us and moved him to the first class. He told her that things have really changed greatly in the last couple of years and the war has simmered down quite a bit. (Julia was here on vacation since Dec. 15th. She says that Portland is warm.)
OK, I have to admit this is embarrassing because I cannot carry a tune and also because I was clearly drunk on my butt. I went to Julia's mom's apartment New Year's Eve where we enjoyed some food from Matsuya and another local Asian restaurant called Yum Yum, and we had some champagne. (Anna is a vegan and Julia is a vegetarian. BTW, she had a 33 on the ACT English and a 23 on the math so the average was 28, but that high verbal score should help get her into good schools with her good grades, essays and extracurricular activities. We'll see.)
Hence my singing, mostly show tunes. Anna was video taping it and sent me her edited -- thank goodness -- version which left out my rendition of the Ode to Joy from Ludwig's ninth symphony, fourth movement. Now I feel like I am Malcolm McDowell or shouldn't that be Alex? For those of you under 35, if you have not seen A Clockwork Orange, get it from Netflix or the video store. A great Kubrick film that is often overlooked is Barry Lyndon. It's long but worth seeing.
You know I don't generally drink, maybe two or three times a year, I will have some wine or vodka or in this case champagne. And it often happens when I visit Mira's place because as I have learned, Polish people and Russians really like that wudka. As a diabetic on insulin, thank goodnees I don't have any affinity for the bottle.
And here is another reason I can be glad I don't: fewer embarrasing episodes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFC4fZQg3WQ
-- I learned from the cabbie who is Polish who drove me home Wednesday from the Mart that it is cheaper to live in Chicago than it is to live in Cracow. He went down the list for me. A car is a third cheaper in Chicago; gas is four time cheaper in Chicago (it is about $4 a gallon in Poland); clothing is more in Poland; food is a bit cheaper; housing is about the same. I know nothing about how the Poles are being hit by the crisis in natural gas as a result of Russia and Ukraine holding back on its flow to Europe.
The movement of skilled workers from Poland to Great Britain and particularly Ireland is over. People are moving back to Poland. The decline of the British pound has been a factor and does anyone know if Poland has been integrated into using Euro yet or are they still tied to the zloty?
The cabbie was driving a Scion made in Japan by Toyota and it cost him $17,200. He bought it for the gas mileage. Much of the traditional Polish industry has been lost to China, he told me.
-- I talked to a waiter named Spark at Wilde Tuesday night where I went for a bite after leaving the Len Bland / Dave Carman event at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell. He said that fine dining has really taken a big hit and specifically mentioned that Charlie Trotter's has had a 30 to 40 drop-off in business. He said that Charlie Trotter's has a standard dinner price for an eight course meal of $175, but my landlord told me Wednesday at lunch that you can get the five course for $125, but that does not include wine. My landlord told me he wants to go to the place at Trump Tower. Spark, the Wilde waiter, told me that they have had minimal drop off in business, about 5% he estimates. He said that what they call two tops will run about $50, the average bill for two at Wilde. He said that he ate once at Charlie Trotter's and he said that you feel like a different person after you have eaten there. My landlord prefers Everest Room and Tru to Charlie Trotter's.
I ran into two guys who are consultants with Lettuce Entertain You. They were buying fried matza for the CEO of Lettuce whose name I forget right now. It just came to me: Rich Melman ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_Melman). BTW, for those of you who knew Joe Lenuti at Lettuce, he died about ten years ago. I tried to place a programmer with him in the mid 1980s.
They said that their restaurants are doing fairly well and Joe's Crab House is doing very well. They said that they do not expect any of their restaurants to close and none are in danger of it. R.J. Grunts is hanging in there, they said. RJ is one of their oldest restaurants.
Danny Wolf at The Bagel told me that their biz is doing OK since it is a cheaper alternative to fine dining, and you don't have to pay for a valet. Danny is still recovering from his heart attack and other health problems, btw, and he was on life support for a time according to his uncle Michael Golenzer. Michael's wife told me Thursday at lunch that Danny is doing well now and he is recovering at the Rehab Institute of Chicago, but she said that Danny could not talk because he had a trach (slit throat) ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracheotomy)
and she said that now you can't get him to shut up. She also said that the doctors at Northwestern, where Danny has been since the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, have been not-so-good. On three occasions, she wanted to strangle them, she told me. They exaggerate the risks and they said twice that he had pneumonia and it turned out that he just had fluid in his lungs, but it was not pneumonia. I told her that I have been there done that on the pneumonia thing. They always say it is pneumonia for insurance purposes even though a radiologist looking at the X-rays weeks later will say it was not.
-- Obama says they will have to pry the Blackberry out of his hands, and Michael Golenzer of The Bagel was lecturing the wait staff Thursday on why they should not use strawberries, blueberries, or blackberries. A play on words of course. He was ticked that the staff takes and makes cell phone calls while they are working the floor. Michael's wife told me that the keep it on vibrator and when they are serving meals the vibrator goes off and they take the calls. The prime offender is the waitress Marci, a 25 year old Hispanic woman who is very nice -- and cute too.
-- Incidentally, guess who's coming to dinner on Check, Please! on Friday, January 16th. You guessed it. None other than a special guest named -- you KNOW the name! How did they manage to pull that off? But congrats to the folks at Check, Please!, especially David Manilow, the CEO, and Ron Kirschner for investing in it. I am curious to know what restaurant he picked. Rick Bayless' Topolobampo, Valois, http://www.yelp.com/biz/valois-restaurant-chicago, or Mia Francesca, www.miafrancesca.com or who knows, maybe David Axelrod's fave Manny's. www.mannysdeli.com
Sorry, I just found out that this is an old show from years ago when Barack was a state senator. I thought that they had managed to get the President-elect to be on the show. And I am hearing that the restaurant was on the south side, so maybe it was Valois.
-- Also at lunch on Thursday I ran into David Pessis from Fippex. He was eating there with Lindsay who does sales for them. Terry Howerton introduced them to Jerry Putnam back in June, I believe, and Putnam took them golfing at Mid Lane Country Club. Putnam introduced them to Sam Long who had been the number three guy at Archipelago as the head of biz dev for the global operation. Sam Long and Jacques Glicksberg are both on the advisory board for www.fippex.com. They have one or two other advisors but I did not press the issue sicne David seemed to fear that I might print what he was telling me. I have done these kind of deals with start-up entrepreneurs and these embargo deals never or almost never work out. There is nothing here that anyone should be fearful to admit. And that goes for Josh Karp as well who was quaking in his boots when we talked last Friday that something he told me about www.blog.theprintedblog.com might come out. Well, I guess Josh was not too upset because he features my ditty on his firm and our lunch meeting in his blog today.
Fippex has changed its business model and we'll know more in a month or so. David told me that they are not looking for money now, but they did raise $300K in angel funding some time ago. David brought Jan Ver Eecke on with equity in exchange for his time. David said that the new focus of the firm is on helping out private equity firms and hedge funds. Jacques Glicksberg has a private equity background. David said that Jerry Putnam is a nice guy and a good golfer.
David said that Fippex works out of an apartment in Lincoln Park and are not in TechNexus even though he is a member of the ITA. He read my ditty on Josh Karp and he said he is scheduled to meet with Karp today or tomorrow.
David said that Howerton and Fastroot had pitched them on doing the development work for his site and that in the end, they did not come to an agreement or a contract. David said that they wanted to do it themselves rather than pay a consultant cash. He hired someone to help on the development.
David was impressed by how good my memory is since I knew they were meeting with Putnam from more than six months ago. I told him to tell Jan Ver Eecke that I have an excellent memory and always check out the stories people tell me. One such story was told to me recently when Jan called me and told me that Bill Houston holds meetings to review business plans and "often calls" him (Jan) to address technical due diligence issues for deals he is considering. Well, I saw Bill on Tuesday night and he told me that he called Jan twice. What?! Another entrepreneur exaggerating his role in something? Claude Rains, where are you when I need you? Gambling in this establishment?! I'm shocked, shocked. Here's a Rains quote for ya. "A man who tells lies, like me, merely hides the truth. But a man who tells half-lies has forgotten where he put it."
But don't forget this beaut from our buddy Fred Nietzsche: "He who cannot lie does not know what the truth is."
-- The law firm Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell is a merger between the local firm Lord Bissell & Brook (www.lockelord.com ) and a Texas firm which happened about a year ago. They are on the 41st floor of the 111 S. Wacker building. Very nice digs. That building also has R.R. Donnelley and Deloitte. I met a few partners and of course I have known Bill Miller who is known well by MEF members, now in his 80s, for years and Bill was a partner there for many years. But if some folks in this economy are hurting, some of the lawyers at Locke Lord are doing quite well -- thank you very much. One senior partner at Locke Lord is Roger Fross who does a lot of M&A work and I've heard that Roger owns a summer home in Michigan, but not just A home. He also bought the lot next to his house on both sides so that he would have more space between himself and his neighbors. Roger is applying his M&A knowledge to acquiring and merging more land.
-- I talked to Tim Smith after the Don Schultz talk who has now refined his business and renamed as www.wiglafpricing.com . Tim has a Ph.D. in physics (or was it physical chemistry?) and an MBA. Either way, he has an advanced math background. So, he is basically a marketing quant. He has clients like Symantec and he helps them in pricing their products and services. Tim does a lot of work in Europe and he told me that the three global giants in groceries stores in the world are Walmart, Tesco out of the U.K. which operates under a different brand name in the U.S. and Carrefour, a French firm. Walmart got booted out of Germany when they tried to make inroads there and Europe is pretty much split up by Tesco and Carrefour. Walmart is trying to make hay in Latin America, Tim said. Another firm I found mentioned was Royal Ahold out of the Netherlands, but Tim told me at 3:30pm Thursday that they are not as big a player. OK, that was found out at 3:30pm so it is still under the 48 hour mark of things I have learned.
-- On the political front, I have found out several tidbits of interest. What does Pat Quinn do to raise money? Answer: he goes to Blair Hull who has funded him to the tune of $50K at least.
What initiative is Roland Burris known for? Getting people to turn in guns for cash. What happened? Burris forgot that he owned a gun himself.
What famous Illinois criminal's case was ignored by Roland? Rolando Cruz -- curious play on words there, uh?, especially considering the names of Roland Burris' kids, Rolanda Burris and Roland W. Burris II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolando_Cruz_case
Mary Brigid Kenney, assistant AG in IL, resigned in protest against Burris' non-action in the case after she warned him.
Burris also has a mausoleum. OK, so, he's a narcissist.
Oh, and one more political thing and here I am cheating on my learned it in the last 48 hour rule. Some interesting history about Sara Feigenholtz (http://www.staterepsara.com/ ) which was told to me last summer by Dawn Geras. But I will leave that tasty tidbit for later. It is a bit sensitive and needs to be fully explained. Sara is planning to run for the recently vacated House seat held by Rahm Israel Emanuel. BTW, how did I get on Sara's campaign mailing list. Well, I am on Barack's list but have never contributed to any campaign since I believe it violates so-called journalistic ethics. Is there ethics in journalism? That is for another day. OK, let me give you a hint. It has to do with something called bast*** nation and Dawn encountered some resistance from this group in her efforts on behalf of Save Abandoned Babies. Folks like Jeffery Leving and others have raised ethical issues surrounding SAB, but Dawn has tried, along with her supporters, to accomodate their concerns. (http://www.dadsrights.com/)More on this later. Actually, I need to ask Dick Reck about this because he is active in the fathers' movement.
And on the subject of Rahm, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rahm_Emanuel , there is something you should know. Rahm is always having his last name mispronounced in the media. It is not E-man-you-el. It's just eman-ual with no particular stress or emphasis on any syllable. They always treat the last name like it is more pronounced than it really is. That may be because the media does not know how the family name was obtained. Emanuel was the name of Rahm's father's brother who was killed by the Arabs in an Israeli war and in honor of Rahm's uncle, his dad changed the family name to his brother's first name.
Now, how did I know that? Well, a very nice couple drove me home on one of the nights of the Chicago Humanities Festival in November after we saw Lawrence Tribe speak (I think it was on the 9th of November) which was right after Rahm was asked to be Chief of Staff and they told me about the interview they saw years ago on Charlie Rose where the name change was discussed. And they said that they thought that Barack put Rahm in a bind by announcing it before Rahm had officially accepted the job. Not knowing anything about the Blago scandal, that was quite perceptive of them at the time. I saw some clips that Charlie showed much later, but not the whole interview which had the three Emanuel brothers. They also have a sister who was not on the show. Of course I am sure you know that Rahm studied at Sarah Lawrence College and he has been a ballet dancer. His dad was a well known pediatrician in Rogers Park.
His brother Ari is the basis for the character on the TV show on HBO Entourage.
I had a long talk with Rahm back in late 1991 or early 1992 when he had an office in the same building that my brother and I had space in at 730 N. Franklin. He told me how he was so effective in raising cash for candidates. That is how he earned his job in the White House. He would tear up checks for $20,000 and send them back and tell the MF that he would not take less than $50K. The MF was just the way Rahm talks. And everyone tied in any way to politics knows that too.
David Axelrod was also in that building on the fourth floor. Someday I will tell you about what David Axelrod did for his bachelor's thesis at U. of C. in political science. We (my brother and I and Dave Umlauf and Jeff Barron and our staffs) were on the sixth floor down the hall from The Strategy Group. We saw each other regularly in the elevator and on the floor. David Wilhelm was also in that building and Pete Giangreco, Mark Giangreco's brother, ran The Strategy Group with a woman named Liz after Wilhelm left.
There was a very hot brunette who worked for Rahm Emanuel. I think her name was Colleen, but I could be wrong -- not that she was hot, she was a sizzler, but about her name. This was just one of the accidents or coincidences of history that we were on the floor with people who later became quite famous. We signed that 40 page lease in a building run by Goodman (I think that was his name) and it had some of the silliest provisions I have ever seen -- but I have not seen many. One provision was that if there was a fire and the building burned down we would have to move back if it was inhabitable in six months! The lawyer who handled that lease negotiation for us was Bernie Rivkin of the law firm Braun & Rivkin and yes, the Braun in the name was Michael Braun, Carol Moseley Braun's (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carol_Moseley_Braun)
ex-husband. It is a small world! I got to Bernie Rivkin in December 1985 when I left the recruiting firm(s) I had worked for since September 1981 and I approached Bernie because I found out that he had represented Scott Upp in his defense against a suit brought by that organization (run by Gerry Rynearson and Greg Laka at the time). Scott runs Upp Business Systems in Oak Brook and lives in Hinsdale. Bernie represented me in the lawsuit they filed against me for violating the unenforceable non-compete agreement they had employees sign. As of about a year ago, one of Scott Upp's lawyers was Frank Ballantine of ReedSmith, fka Sachnoff & Weaver. Bernie's partner Mike Braun was at a party I attended at Bernie's place over by the Old Town area during the Old Town Art Fair years ago and I met Carol's and Mike's son at the time.
Getting back to politics, I found out this morning from a friend who knows the inside of politics that Leon Panetta (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Panetta ) knows more about intelligence than most people think because of his time at the OMB. In that role, he knows about what they call black ops which refers to the mystery intel expenditures that are not transparent in the federal budget.
-- Gordon Hochhalter who is one of the founders of Mobium (www.mobium.com ) explained very affably and calmly what happened there. He was not upset with me and did not blame me for printing that they had had lay-offs. Most of the layoffs took place some time ago, he told me. Among those cut was Melissa Kauck who went on to do something in product placement.
Gordon explained that Mobium came out of RR Donnelley and that they were purchased by Colle+McVoy, and they took twelve core Mobium people along with Laughlin Constable ( www.laughlin.com) which is a consumer agency (vs. Mobium which is a B2B agency), and that combination gave them a total of 35 people, which based on my current info., is considerably larger than a well known local competitor, Slack Barshinger. The employees of Mobium combined with Laughlin bought the firm out from Colle+McVoy. Gordon has been with Mobium for fourteen years, since it was still a part of R.R. Donnelley before it was spun off.
-- On the subject of the conventional wisdom that there is convergence between B2B and B2C marketing, Gordon told me that the issue is the role that emotion plays. In B2C, it may be short-term impulse, whereas in a business environment, it's still an emotive decision, but you have to get a number of people on board with the same emotion all the way up the line. And they all have to rationalize that emotion, Gordon said.
-- Gordon further explained to me the "rule of three" that Don Schultz referred to in his talk. This refers to how media people try to get X% of the audience to see or hear the message at least three times. That idea came from the fellow at General Electric in 1965 who wrote a PR article that stuck and ever since marketing and advertising people have used the idea, even though it was made up out of thin air. I just spent twenty minutes trying to find this article or references to it and came up empty. Will try again, or just email Don at dschultz@northwestern.edu.
-- Don Schultz, Gordon told me, once wrote a book on measuring ROI, which is exactly what he says now does not matter. We chuckled about that.
-- I did not do a count in the pretty full room where the BIGFrontier/Mobium event featuring Don Schultz from Medill. But Lundin said 125 and there were 144 seats, so 110 is a believable number to me. It was a pretty good turn out for a snowy January morning, and there were many new faces.
Some of the attendees at the meeting included the usual suspects, but a few usuals were not there. I did NOT see Chris Rollyson, Bruce Montgomery, Bob Gene, Paul Davidovich who is almost always there, Mary Bober, Robert Harney, Fred Kush, David Dalka, Mary Eggert, JoAnne Gucwa, Bob Ingersoll, Bob Back, James Nahikian, Avery Cohen, Stefania Aulicino, Irv Michaels, Dick Mulvihill, David Naylor, Jason Jacobsohn, Fritz Golman, Jack Curley who sometimes shows, and a few others who often populate these little Lundin get togethers. I miss seeing David Smith at these gatherings since he has moved to Boston.
Other regulars who were NOT there included: Jon Paul, Michael Krauss who was never really a regular, Brad Spirrison who was registered to go to several events where he no-showed, Tom Johnson (that tall scruffy haired guy I could not identify may have been Tom Johnson though -- no, it was not Tom according to Lundin), Scott Issen, Phil Burnstine (is he even still around?), Jeff Gilbert (who might be at the CES in Vegas this week), Julie Moran, Francine McKenna, Nick Farina, Scott Drucker, Lou Calamaris, Sonny Cohen of DuoDesign, Pat Statwick, and a few others.
Some of the regulars WERE there, however. Can't we do without Ellis "Miami Vice unshaven" Booker (even though he did bring copies of B2B and asked a good question); Lynn "I'm an executive recruiter" Hazan who never misses a meeting, Jeff "the women just love me" Willinger -- or should that be Jeff "I just can't get over myself" Willinger? (he actually told one woman there that the men want to be like him and the women love him -- talk about narcissism), Scott McGarvey (he's pedantic but he always asks good questions), SuAnne Goldman, Jack Trytten, Steve Ryzner, Tom Figel, Tim Smith, and Ron "the heckler" May who showed up late, was moderately disruptive, very disheveled, and as usual brought up the rear when leaving? We can do without them, but it would not be the same event then would it? We do need characters in our tech world.
I was actually pleased to see Jeff Coney and Bret Johnson who made it down from Evanston. Ken Novak from Metrist was there and he works with Avery Cohen. Figel's colleague Kevin Deany was there too. I don't know if Figel is doing well or not because I don't see all those new people he usually has with him. I liked seeing Dave Perlmutter who has the Perl Group and is doing what?? Pat Johnson, another regular, was there. Pat Conway of the CME Group was there.
There is one guy I would like to track down but he left before I could talk to him and that was the guy who attended the SES conference here in December. Larry Kaul was there and he asked a few questions.
There was one "crazy" woman named Kathy Bradway who owns an interior design firm focused on seniors. Her firm is called Periwinkle Lane Interiors (www.periwinklelaneinteriors.com ). She asked Don a long-winded question and he handled her beautifully.
Look, it is 12:44am on Thursday and I cannot be late to dialysis as I was on Tuesday. Anna Forys, one of the technicians, will lecture me on how inconsiderate of other people I am.
Don Schultz is a real hoot. I have a feeling he missed his true calling as a stand-up comedian and who knows, maybe he took classes at Second City.
Don has been around a long time. His Ph.D. is in communications from Michigan State in 1977 and he has written 18 books. I missed it but Ellis Booker was surprised that he referred to his wife of twenty eight years as his assistant. In that way, Don is old school. He is from Oklahoma and has that Oklahoma drawl.
He looks old and talks like an old guy with that Southern slow and folksy delivery, but his thinking is fresh and he consistently challenges conventional thinking. And that is one big thing I got out of his talk. We need to challenge our assumptions and get away from the organization centric approach and adopt a consumer centric approach.
Don is consumer oriented and common sense based. He's not fond of the marketing professional establishment which is mostly concerned with protecting its job security.
Beyond that there were some real gems in his talk -- witty quips and repartee. But I have to get that off the tape and it is time to get going.
I have not covered Beautology which is looking to raise $4MM for a 20% share on a $16MM pre-money valuation. Lots of interesting tidbits. Like the fact that 90% of women smell the shampoo before buying it. Or that they do 41% of their biz with Walgreens which pays in 47 days. Or the differences between Walmart and Costco and the fact that Walmart has 52 brands of hair products.
Or the other firms presenting on Tuesday night, Dark Strand, www.darkstrand.com, www.inchargesys.com, and www.lbrbproductions.com. I will get to that and it was all in the last 48 hours. I'll cover that next time.
Oh, this info. did not come in the last 48 hours but on Jan. 1st, I believe that the law now prohibits pharma and medical device firms from giving docs little trinket gifts like pens and mugs. The times, they are a changin.
Two general observations on the parties I attended in December. From my surveying of people on lay-offs, we can say that they are not that bad in the tech field -- not yet at any rate. Smaller firms seem to be doing OK considering the circumstances. Some firms have laid people off, like Ocean Tomo, and yet they have turned right around and hired new people.
Secondly, at the ITA party at least, there were a ton of IT consultants and recruiters.
Back to the last 48 hours. The two guys from Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises did tell me Thursday that the business that is suffering most right now is parties and catered affairs. Mostly I-banking and financial service firms put on these events and they have cut way back on them.
* Here is the list of the 25 or so who attended the ITDA meeting on December 15th at Coogan's at 180 N. Wacker in the back room. At that meeting, three firms presented. This list leaves out the ITDA folks of course, like Jack Curley, John Noel and Kathy Liu. The two scheduled presenters were Flex Lighting and MagDrive. General Biomass was picked randomly from the business cards they collected to present a pitch.
Dennis Serio
Mike Casper
mcasper@flex-lighting.com
MARY KAY BIANCHI
marykay.bianchi@sntialtech.com
SANDEEP NAIN
sandeep.nain@sntialtech.com
Norm Hansen
norm@EnergyUSA.net
Anthony Baroud
Nikola Milivojevic
nmilivoj@iit.edu
Andrew Clarke
aclarke@groundfloorpartners.com
Greg Curtiss
gcurtiss@groundfloorpartners.com
Layton Olson
leo@howehutton.com
Edward Bowe
edbowe@hotmail.com
David Bremer
djb@sabretechnical.com
David Adler
adlerlaw1@mac.com
Joe Scroppo
scroppo@comcast.net
Jordan Katz
jkatz1@chicagogsb.edu
Sigurd Nelson
signelson@ameritech.net
Suzan Tash
stash@generalbiomass.net
Daniel Gibbs
dgibbs@generalbiomass.com
Betsy Yung
l.enterprises@sbcglobal.net
Buckley Brinkman
pbuckleyb@comcast.net
Robert L Russell
russellenergy@earthlink.net
Shawn Pucylowski
spucylowski@flex-lighting.com
David Henderson
dhenderson65@gmail.com
Becky Davenport
bldavenport1@aol.com
John Franczyk
jaf@jfranczyk.com
* And here are the cards I collected at the Sean Murdock nanotech gathering on December 17, 2008:
Lawrence G. Almeda
Intellectual Property Attorney
Brinks Hoffer Gilson & Lione
www.usebrinks.com
lalmeda@usebrinks.com
Alisa Kronshage
Senior Coordinator
NanoBusiness
www.nanobusiness.org
alisa@nanobusiness.org
Sid Bennett
Scientific Advisor & Patent Agent
Brinks Hofer Gilson & Lione
www.usebrinks.com
sbennett@usebrinks.com
Keith R. Karasek
nLake Technology Partners
kkarasek@nlake.com
[Editor's note: May here. Keith is working now full time for www.nanobusiness.org and is not doing his current work through nLake.]
Phil Lefebvre
Senior Scientist
Nanosphere
www.nanosphere.us
plefebvre@nanosphere.us
Jess A. Jankowski
Chief Financial Officer
nanosphase
www.nanophase.com
jjankowski@nanophase.com
James F. Hulvat
Chemical Engineering Manager
Nanotope
www.nanotope.com
jhulvat@nanotope.com
Lesley Meade Hamming
PhD Candidate in Materials Science and Engineering
McCormick-Northwestern University
LesleyHamming@u.northwestern.edu
Dan Leven
Executive Vice President
Nano Integris
www.nanointegris.com
dleven@nanointegris.com
Nathan L. Yoder
Product Development Manager
www.nanointegris.com
nyoder@nanointegris.com
Wesley C. Lindsey
Associate Director
Nano Sphere
www.nanosphere.us
wlindsey@nanosphere.us
John R. Ireland
NLP Educational Project Coordinator
NanoInk
www.nanoink.net
jireland@nanoink.net
James E. Banaszak
Chief Technology Officer
OpenCEL
www.OpenCEL.com
jebanaszak@OpenCEL.com
Helen Oloroso
Assistant Dean and Director
McCormick-Northwestern University
www.co-op.mccormick.northwestern.edu
h-oloroso@northwestern.edu
Donald E. Yuhas
President
Industrial Measurement System
dyuhas@imsysinc.com
R.W. Brotzman, Jr.
Chief Technology Officer
NanoPhase
www.nanophase.com
rbrotzman@nanophase.com
Jason Haaheim
Manager DFN Applications
NanoInk
www.nanoink.net
jhaaheim@nanoink.net
Mike Nelson
Senior Vice President
Enigineering
NanoInk
www.nanoink.net
mnelson@nanoink.net
Brian Tafel
Senior R & D Technician
NanoInk
www.nanoink.net
btafel@nanoink.net
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
* And while we are on the subject of cards collected and events in December, here are the cards I collected on that snowy night at 10 N. Dearborn at the MIT-EF holiday party at Sopraffina Market Cafe. I won't go into it now, but my reliable info. is that this organization is in disarray and quite possibly on the brink. The host sponsor, the law firm Bell Boyd & Lloyd, is coming up on one year of sponsorship now and has some decisions to make, perhaps very soon. Also, they have no program chair since Tracy Harris quit, and people who have offered to help have been ignored. Program planning is very much on the fly and even so, attendance seems to be holding up and even doing well. Spencer Maus tells me that the next meeting is almost full and that is probably beccause it is about the success of the Obama campaign in using online and social networking technology. At this point, it seems to me that Spencer Maus and Nancy Munro are keeping the organization going. This year, Irv Michaels and Rachel Kaberon have also played a key role. Keith Waxelman, Valerie P., Danny Fisher and others have disappeared.
Preston Urka
General Manager
Form Forte
www.formforte.com
preston.urka@formforte.com
William Hartzell
Principal
Facilities Solutions Group
www.facsol.com
Hartzell@fascol.com
Vihar R. Patel
Of Counsel
Enterprise Law Group
www.enterpriselg.com
vihar@enterpriselg.com
Barbara Manley
Managing Partner
Birchstone Consulting
www.BirchstoneConsulting.com
Barbara@BirchstoneConsulting.com
Richard J. O'Brien
President & CEO
Payment Pathways, Inc.
www.paymentpathways.com
robrien@paymentpathways.com
Jay Kelly
Consultant
Administaff
www.administaff.com
jay_kelly@administaff.com
Mark Steiner
President
Mark Steiner, Inc.
www.marksteinerinc.com
mark@marksteinerinc.com
Peter J. Shakula
Attorney at Law
Wood Phillips
www.woodphillips.com
pjshakula@woodphillips.com
Jeff Marshall
C-2-C Enterprises
P. Buckley Brinkman
Change Catalyst
Launchpad Partners
www.launchpadpartners.com
buckley@launchpadpartners.com
Nancy Munro
CEO
KnowledgeShift
www.knowledgeshift.net
nancy@knowledgeshift.net
Sacheen Zaveri
Zaveri Brothers
zaveribrothers@yahoo.com
Jack Quill
Sales Executive
Cornerstone Solutions
www.cornerstonesls.com
jquill@cornerstonesls.com
Bill Burnett
Problem-Solver
W Burnett LLC
www.wburnettllc.com
bill@wburnettllc.com
Stephen Hernan
Analyst
New Paradigm Resources
www.nprg.com
shernan@nprg.com
Eugene Fregetto
Clinical Associate Professor of Marketing
UIC
fregetto@uic.edu
___________________________________________
Brad Spirrison writes about predictions for 2009 from Razorfish Central President David Friedman, American Electronics Association Midwest executive director Ed Longanecker, Heartland Angels President Ron Kirschner and "The Twitter Survival Guide" co-author Kristin Nicole
1/7/2009
CHICAGO - In our third-annual series, we asked a dozen Chicago tech leaders to make their predictions for 2009 and also assess the health of the Chicago tech industry relative to other sectors.
In this edition, we give the crystal ball to Razorfish Central President David Friedman, American Electronics Association Midwest executive director Ed Longanecker, Heartland Angels President Ron Kirschner and "The Twitter Survival Guide" co-author Kristin Nicole.
Along with their predictions, each respondent quantified their assessment of the health of the Chicago technology sector on a scale from one to 10 (10 being the highest).
The arrow is still pointing slightly up (in their aggregate opinion) as the health of Chicago technology received an average of 6.75 on a scale from one to 10. Below are four predictions that follow four more from Monday. Stay tuned this Friday for the completion of this series.
------------------------
David Friedman, Central Region President, Razorfish
Health of the Market: 7
Trends
Consumers will move to the portable Web. The era of the monolithic, destination Web site is behind us. Today's consumer wants control. This consumer expects to be able to interact with companies within his or her normal activities online, on the go and (increasingly) on the tube.
Mobile Will (Finally) Break Out
Every year for the past five years, experts have predicted an explosion in the use of mobile phones to access the Internet. The launch of the iPhone will make it a reality.
Netbooks will emerge as a viable alternative to the full-feature laptop. A Netbook is a stripped-down notebook computer (with no DVD drive and less processing) with a stripped-down price (sometimes less than $300).
Netbooks give customers access to all the functionality of the Web in a low-cost, lightweight package. In 2008, PC Magazine expects manufacturers to sell about 18 million Netbooks and at least another 36 million to 38 million worldwide in 2009.
The interactive TV wave will gain momentum. In 2008, AT&T began the Chicagoland rollout of the U-verse TV product. AT&T U-verse and online video services (e.g. Hulu.com) give a glimpse into the future of TV. As with DVRs, once a consumer gets true interactive TV they will never go back.
Content Will Be King Again
As sites become more dynamic and personalized, the differentiator is content. It must be relevant, timely and on target. This will necessitate increased volumes of content organized in a way that it can be dynamically delivered to a consumer as they interact.
Companies will begin to share and manage content globally. Companies are beginning to see the value of sharing and reusing content across markets. In 2009, we will see a move toward global content management systems and processes.
Companies will migrate to standard formats that can be distributed across platforms. As mentioned earlier, consumers want to interact across platforms. Companies will create content designed to be used in every channel. It will be stored in a common format and in a single place.
Companies will use technology to lower costs. Given the challenging economic times, companies will increase their focus on technologies that drive lower operating costs.
Cloud Computing Will Enter the Enterprise
There has already been a widespread adoption of cloud computing by consumers (i.e. Flickr, Google Apps, etc). Workers will pressure their businesses to explore these alternatives.
The economic downturn helps here with cloud computing because it offers less risk, no capital expenditure, predictable operating expenses and fast results. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies will likely get a bump for the same reasons.
Virtualization will become the baseline. Technology that allows a single piece of hardware to run systems and applications that previously ran on multiple machines squeezes more out of existing hardware.
Virtualization has only been done in earnest for about three years and has been driven largely by the greening of corporations since it can reduce energy use substantially.
Lighter weight software and tools will gain ground. Software originally designed for small and mid-sized businesses and open source products are building the functionality and reliability to be considered for enterprise applications.
New development languages (e.g. Ruby on Rails) have appeared. These tools are specialized for the Web and bring new levels of productivity in the development of Web-based applications.
Economy, Technological Development in Chicago
I expect the Chicago tech business to hold up relatively well in 2009. While the recession undoubtedly will hurt, the diversity of the community should get us through the storm without any permanent damage.
Health of Chicago's Tech Climate
I would rate the overall technology marketplace as a "7". Technology remains a proven tool for deepening customer relationships and lowering costs. Many clients are continuing their large, strategic programs. Smaller, less strategic initiatives are shrinking or being delayed.
-----------------------------
Ed Longanecker, Midwest Executive Director, American Electronics Association
Health of the Market: 8
Illinois is one of the world's leading clusters for technology. Despite current economic challenges, the Chicago and larger Illinois technology community is well positioned for growth in 2009 in some areas.
The diversity of the Chicago and Illinois economy will fuel continued growth in vertical application development and the adoption of technology solutions for some key industry segments in the financial, insurance and transportation sectors.
Solutions that drive efficiency, cost savings and those that allow companies to focus on their core competencies (which may not related to technology) will become more important than ever.
While some industry segments and Midwest-based companies will continue to suffer from the turmoil in the automobile industry and due to our overall economy, we expect to maintain or slightly grow in the areas of computer system design and engineering services employment in Illinois.
It's important to note that the new administration (and areas of expected growth in government spending in 2009) will also directly benefit our local economy. Here are just a few business issues related to our new administration, the potential impact on Illinois and areas of expected growth in state and local government procurement of IT products and services.
Health IT
Barack Obama and his administration will be looking at improving and facilitating the migration of paper health records to electronic health records. We will also continue to see an increased emphasis on the standardization of health information systems.
Industry-leading Illinois-based companies (like Allscripts-Misys Healthcare Solutions and SXC Health Solutions Corp.) are in a pivotal place to provide guidance on issues surrounding electronic medical records and other commercial and public-sector health IT solutions.
Benefits to the Illinois economy include revenue growth opportunities, more jobs and the creation of new companies in this growing industry segment.
Government-Funded Basic Research
Obama and his team understand and support increased funding for basic research. With more than 200 academic, government and non-profit research institutions, Illinois has one of the largest concentrations of research in the world.
These research dollars go to Argonne, Fermi Labs, Illinois universities and to small businesses through the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. This provides critical funding to drive innovation, new product development and job growth in our state and local economy.
Energy
The new administration has proposed creating 5 million new jobs by investing $150 billion over the next 10 years to stimulate private efforts to build clean energy. It's likely that Oabama will announce a new energy policy early in his administration with clean energy as a key element.
Illinois is becoming a leader in developing clean energy technology solutions and sponsors one of the largest coal research and development programs in the United States. This will position us well in driving innovation, clean technology and alternative energy solutions in the coming years.
Broadband
The Obama team understands that greater deployment of broadband is critical to their technology agenda. Increased deployment of broadband (both fiber-optic and wireless) will help Illinois businesses to improve efficiencies and serve customers around the world. The building out of infrastructure will create opportunities for new business and new jobs for Illinois.
Additionally, we can expect a capital bill in Illinois in early 2009. Many strongly encourage the appropriation of funds for new and existing schools to purchase broadband and wireless technology, hardware and other IT solutions to better equip our teachers and students for the 21st century.
Government Spending
The government will continue to be the largest procurer of IT products and services in 2009. State and local government alone will spend more than $550 billion in the U.S. on goods and services in the coming year.
Approximately 62 percent of state and local government entities are expected to spend the same or more on IT in 2009 with a key emphasis on education, transportation and other critical areas for Illinois. Expect to see agencies implementing innovations like cloud computing and "green IT" in an effort to maximize efficiency.
Under the leadership of Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn, the Illinois Green Government Coordinating Council continues to work with state agencies to increase green purchasing, reduce pollution and waste, facilitate green-building practices and promote green policies.
We can expect a continued emphasis in these areas for Illinois, which will result in new opportunities and innovation in our industry. Finally, the infrastructure stimulus package continues to grow in size and some are reporting it to be as large as $1.2 trillion.
Technology will play a wide-reaching role in stimulus spending for Illinois to cover a range of programs to expand broadband access, drive energy-efficient building design and construction, improve IT at hospitals and doctors' offices and the utilization of technology in our schools.
-----------------------
Ron Kirschner, President, Heartland Angels
Health of the Market: 3.5 (but 9.5 for the community)
Trends
The downturn in the economy will adversely affect companies that need debt financing for operations (and particularly those that need it to grow and/or to deal with lengthening sales cycles).
Whether some of the smaller and mid-sized companies can survive this will depend on their understanding what their core competency is and how this can be preserved and enhanced. This also depends on their ability to keep and attract the needed human resources that make their business go.
While there will be a significant number of available people with many skills, finding the right one to fit into one's company will be very difficult. I believe a large sector of the investment community will retrench. This will leave many late-stage companies requiring large amounts of money for progress to languish.
The health rating here would be about a "3" or a "4". The exits of these investments will be delayed until after 2011. The delay in funding may lead to their technology becoming ultimately less competitive when the economy turns around.
Health of Chicago's Tech Climate
The areas of greatest opportunity will be for those investors who realizing that the public sector will not provide good returns. Those who look at the private sector (and especially those opportunities that require small strategic investments) will do very well in the long run. I rate this community at a "9" or a "10".
The investment time frame of these investments will be between three to five years. While this will mirror the return of the public sector, the returns will be significantly larger. Particularly attractive opportunities will be those that will require only a small second or no additional investment.
Companies that can shift from long-term strategic programs to short-term opportunistic cash-producing programs will be least at risk. The greatest opportunities will lie in niche technologies.
Additionally, those who are insulated from or benefit from a recession will also do well. Any business that can line up in the industries and supply chains that will be funded in the new administration will do well in late 2009 and 2010 and beyond.
These include urban small wind, photovoltaic technologies, algae, medical devices, construction, transportation and new materials. Research alliances between universities and industries will find the planned increases in federal funding a good way to enhance product and process development.
------------------------------------
Kristin Nicole, Journalist, Co-Author of "The Twitter Survival Guide"
Health of the Market: 6.3
Trends
There will be major cutbacks in new social network launches and much more integration with existing platforms and highly established social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo.
The benefit of this is that services can be launched and integrated with Facebook Connect, Google Friend Connect, MySpaceID and a number of other open platforms from established social networks in order to gain new users and leverage the actual act of online social networking to promote their own applications.
Given the current economy, participating in one or more open platform programs is a more affordable way to launch a new application.
Economy, Technological Development in Chicago
While the economy in Chicago typically isn't hit as hard as either of the coasts, our current recession is seemingly affecting Chicago technological development all the same. A handful of start-up CEOs I know have had to cut back on the time they're able to devote to their start-ups in order to return to the corporate scene, which is volatile as well.
This is in part due to the slowing interest from venture capitalists to support ongoing research and development in the start-up industry. Both start-up entrepreneurs and venture capitalists are forced to be much more self-aware about their decisions for development. Still, such introspection could be better for consumer products in the end.
Health of Chicago's Tech Climate
I'd give the current tech climate a "6.3". While the economic downturn has affected nearly every industry, there are a few things that are going on despite the distressed market.
For one, start-ups can feel more comfortable charging for services as advertising supplementation for online sites and networks is shrinking. What this will do is really marginalize the types of services users are willing to pay for and those that are unnecessary in a consumer market.
This also affects advertisers as they'll need to work closer with ad networks and online tech companies to curb their budget spending. They need to achieve more creative and effective marketing campaigns (some of which will be able to leverage online social networks).
Given the self-awareness, I think the overall quality of technological developments will leave room for the most promising of companies to succeed.
By BRAD SPIRRISON
Staff Writer
brad@midwestbusiness.com
AIM: JSpirrison
_________________________________________
Another Don Samuelson thread: Creating Efficiencies out of Social Networking Tools
From: DSSA310@aol.com
Subject: Re: Creating Efficiencies out of Social Networking Tools
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:04:00 EST
To: andy@andyvass.com, dbassill@cabriniconnections.net, leo@howehutton.com, staterep-constance-a-howard@comcast.net, isiglobal@gmail.com, t-lavengood@theincubator.com, tmcmeen@greenstreetproject.org, onepresence@yahoo.com, OPSAM@aol.com, cchapp@insnet.com, jstasch@macfound.org, jhuang@macfound.org, jbookman@lisc.org, wilcynt@sinai.org, johcas@sinai.org, daleroy@diagnosticshelp.com, ronald.k.weddington@usps.gov, cbrown@nflalumnichicago.org, cbrown@lisc.org, SBrown445@aol.com, pincon@alado.net, field@iit.edu, bmuhammad@ntginc.net, COMPUTOON1@aol.com, auerbach@chicagosurpluscomputer.com, kgorosh_newage@sbcglobal.net
Cc: Ron@themayreport.com
Andy:
Didn't realize that my FYI messages to Ron wind up as published documents in the May Report.
Don
In a message dated 12/31/2008 12:01:27 P.M. Pacific Standard Time, andy@andyvass.com writes:
Don (and all)
Good comments in the May Report today. Wherever we can promote this we should.
Andy
------------------------------
From: DSSA310@aol.com [mailto:DSSA310@aol.com]
Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 12:31 PM
To: dbassill@cabriniconnections.net; andy@andyvass.com; leo@howehutton.com; staterep-constance-a-howard@comcast.net; isiglobal@gmail.com; t-lavengood@theincubator.com; tmcmeen@greenstreetproject.org; onepresence@yahoo.com; OPSAM@aol.com; cchapp@insnet.com; jstasch@macfound.org; jhuang@macfound.org; jbookman@lisc.org; wilcynt@sinai.org; johcas@sinai.org; daleroy@diagnosticshelp.com; ronald.k.weddington@usps.gov; cbrown@nflalumnichicago.org; cbrown@lisc.org; SBrown445@aol.com; pincon@alado.net; field@iit.edu; bmuhammad@ntginc.net; COMPUTOON1@aol.com; auerbach@chicagosurpluscomputer.com; kgorosh_newage@sbcglobal.net
Subject: Re: Creating Efficiencies out of Social Networking Tools
Dan/Andy:
These were also my assumptions.
Don
In a message dated 12/31/2008 7:41:54 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, dbassill@cabriniconnections.net writes:
In this case, Andy is the "leader" and "technology for humanity" is the
meeting place. Andy needs to post agendas, and expand the applications on
the forum of T4H so that the other people in the group are attracted to the
place, and interested enough to spend some of their own time there.
------------------
New year...new news. Be the first to know what is making headlines.
_________________________________________
Scott Wolf: Sleep Well, Your Life May Depend on it - Central Sleep Diagnostics Provides Attended Home Sleep Studies
From: Scott Wolf swolf@stonelionmanagement.com
Subject: RE: The May Report: 12/31/2008: Many cards and letters and other odds and ends to finish up an incredible year; behind the scenes Katherine Gehl planning satellite Gala in Chicago on January 20th
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:46:32 -0600
To: 'The May Report' ron@themayreport.com
Dear Ron,
Our Home based testing facility has now opened. This funded through was syndication and we are now raising funds for other states, giving investors 65% equity..Please see attached and website: www.centralsleepllc.com
Thank you,
Scott Wolf
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Sleep Well, Your Life May Depend on it - Central Sleep Diagnostics Provides Attended Home Sleep Studies
Chicago, December 19, 2008
By Mark D. Eley RRT-NPS, RPFT, RPSGT
Sleep disorders are one of the most significant medical problems individuals can have. An estimated 15 million Americans have obstructive sleep apnea and many individuals have other sleep disorders as well.
Sleep apnea is the most serious sleep disorder but other sleep disorders such as narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, and insomnia are also significant medical problems.
Sleep apnea can lead to other medical problems including cardiac disease, hypertension, stroke, as well as lifestyle complications including drowsy driving, occupational accidents, and impaired sexual performance.
Typically, individuals with suspected sleep disorders must have an overnight sleep study in a hospital or outpatient sleep center. While having a facility-based sleep study is an effective way to diagnose and treat sleep disorders, this is not a good option for many patients.
Individuals who have mobility problems, pediatric patients, elderly patients, and individuals who are uncomfortable with medical environments are all candidates for home sleep testing.
Facility-based sleep centers have difficulty performing sleep studies on these types of patients and as a result, many individuals with sleep disorders are undiagnosed and untreated.
On December 1, 2008, Central Sleep Diagnostics in Northbrook, IL, began providing home-based sleep testing in order to meet the needs of these and other patients.
Central Sleep Diagnostics has the capacity to perform 40 sleep studies per night and has plans to expand to other states as well due to the increasing demand for sleep testing.
Current technology allows for home sleep testing to be at an equal-to or in many cases higher quality level of sleep testing than what occurs in a facility-based procedure. Patients having home sleep studies are monitored in the same way as facility-based studies and patients also have the ability to communicate at any moment with a sleep technician who is monitoring their sleep study from a remote location.
This allows patients who prefer to not have a facility-based sleep study or are not able to engage in a facility-based sleep study to receive the same level of care as those patients who can receive a facility-based study.
According to Dr. David R. Bruce, DDS, MD, D.ABSM, D.ABO-HNS-Certified Sleep Medicine, Medical Director, Central Sleep Diagnostics, "Central Sleep Diagnostics offers high level, state of the art technology in mobile sleep-health assessment and treatment. We use wireless and two way communication devices following American Academy of Sleep Medicine guidelines so you can have an in-lab-quality sleep study in the comfort of your own home."
For more information about sleep disorders or home sleep testing please contact Dr. Ken Dachman Ph.D. at Central Sleep Diagnostics at (847) 412-0400 or www.centralsleepllc.com.
_____________________________________
Randy Blankenhorn: Updates on CMAP
From: Randy Blankenhorn RBlankenhorn@cmap.illinois.gov
Date: Fri, 2 Jan 2009 13:55:27 -0600
To: Sherry Kane SKane@cmap.illinois.gov
MPO Policy Committee. The Policy Committee will meet on Thursday, January 8 at 10:00 a.m. Meeting materials can be found on the CMAP website.
EJ&E decision. On December 24, 2008, the federal Surface Transportation Board (STB) issued its long-awaited decision regarding the Canadian National (CN) railway's acquisition of the Elgin, Joliet, and Eastern (EJ&E) railway. The three-member board approved the purchase unanimously. The STB issued a press release, which stated that the merger "marks a significant step forward in our nation's efforts to alleviate rail and highway congestion." The board imposed a five-year oversight period during which CN is required to submit monthly operational reports to the STB. Among the required mitigation, CN must pay the majority of costs for highway-rail grade separations at Ogden Avenue in Aurora and Lincoln Highway in Lynwood, both of which are part of the Strategic Regional Arterial system.
Infrastructure priorities. CMAP Board chairman Gerald Bennett was quoted this week in The Reporter's story about the prospects for Illinois to receive -- and wisely use -- infrastructure funding as part of the anticipated federal economic recovery package. Today, Paul Merrion of Crain's Chicago Business covers the same topic, emphasizing CREATE as an example where projects are "shovel ready." Last week, Jon Hilkevitch of the Chicago Tribune wrote about the issue, with links to IDOT's lists of projects that might be funded through the federal recovery package. As I said to Crain's and the Trib, it's important that we get this right. CMAP has issued an infrastructure principle statement (opens 195KB PDF) that describes steps through which our region, state, and nation can balance the need for short-term economic stimulus with the need for long-term reform of how priorities are set.
Blog entries. CMAP's GO TO 2040 blog features two new posts. Diana Torres writes about the Chicago Community Trust's new Vital Signs project. And Lindsay Banks describes her New Year's resolutions for a sustainable 2009.
Cathy in the Trib. On December 24, the Tribune's lead editorial featured a photo of CMAP's own Cathy Holland-Hatcher (70KB PDF). Cathy was bundled up on her way to lunch near Sears Tower last Tuesday when photographer Chris Walker snapped her picture. Though he had photographed a number of other pedestrians the same day, he must have known he had a winner. He told Cathy to look for the photo in the next day's paper, and sure enough, there it was. Click here for a color version of the photo.
_______________________________________
Mark Olson: BFG Tech Launches first full system -- Phobos
From: Mark Olson markolson@maxborgesagency.com
Subject: BFG Tech Launches first full system -- Phobos
Date: Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:48:50 -0700
To: ron@themayreport.com
BFG TECHNOLOGIES UNVEILS PHOBOS™ --
STUNNING NEW HIGH PERFORMANCE GAMING/HOME THEATER SYSTEM
Phobos features innovative touch panel LCD with Performance Control, upcoming BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 Graphics Cards, Liquid Cooling Solutions from CooIIT, and Intel Core i7 Processors
Come by the NVIDIA Booth at CES to see Phobos: South Hall 4 #35352
Lake Forest, IL - January 5, 2009 - BFG Technologies, known as a leading supplier of premium power supplies and 3D graphics cards, is excited to announce its first line of complete gaming and multimedia PCs, called Phobos. These sleek hand-built, high performance machines were designed with the "Graduated Gamer" in mind. This audience is looking for all the performance associated with a high-end gaming system, but none of the hassle related to building and servicing such a system. As a result, Phobos is sold with complementary Concierge Service which includes expert in-home installation and a six month follow up maintenance visit.
"Phobos was designed for gamers and media enthusiasts who demand top of the line performance, but may not have the time, desire, or expertise to build or maintain a high end system," said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. "Our Concierge Service ensures our systems meet those high expectations-delivering Unbelievable Performance without monopolizing our customers' time."
Phobos is designed with the highest-end components available, featuring the Intel® Core i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.2GHz Processor, two upcoming BFG NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 295 Graphics Cards, and CoolIt® Contained Liquid Cooling Solutions to keep both the GPUs & CPU cool during the fiercest of gaming battles. BFG Tech also outfitted Phobos to serve as a home theater command center by choosing Windows® Vista Ultimate with Media Center, including four hard drive bays, offering RF remote and TV tuner with DVR functionality, a front slot-loading Blu-ray Disc® drive, the option for 5.1 or 7.1 surround sound audio cards, and an integrated iPod®/iPhone® syncing dock.
FULL SPECS BELOW
Phobos is as impressive externally as it is internally, offering Refined Aesthetics and an innovative design. Its sleek black gloss finish and hidden cable management makes Phobos look at home in the living room, next to a flat panel TV and high end audio components. BFG Tech's ground breaking touch panel LCD with performance control further sets Phobos apart from every other system in its class. The panel provides users with a System Status Overview-a real time snapshot of the processor, memory, network, and storage data. Phobos owners can also make real-time performance adjustments based on desired use (Auto/Quiet/Max), monitor the capacity and health of internal storage devices, display and control audio and video files, and more.
For more information about Phobos, visit www.bfgsystems.com after January 8, 2009 or contact PR representative Mark Olson at 305.576.1171 x17 or markolson@maxborgesagency.com. For additional information about BFG Tech please visit www.BFGTech.com.
About BFG Tech
BFG Technologies is a privately held U.S. based supplier of premium power supplies and 3D video cards based on award-winning NVIDIA graphics technology, and a manufacturer of high end gaming/home theater systems. BFG Tech is dedicated to bringing the latest high quality, high-tech multimedia products to PC and gaming enthusiasts at competitive prices. Like the company's target customers, many of BFG Tech's employees are gamers and PC enthusiasts, and they strive to provide hardware and marketing that reflects the company's passion and excitement for the latest technology. www.BFGTech.com
Phobos™ System Specs
Phobos has three conveniently pre-configured high-performance systems that can be used as a starting point:
* Phobos Performance (from $3,000)
* Phobos Advanced (from $5,000)
* Phobos Elite (from $8,000)
Please visit www.bfgsystems.com after January 8, 2009 to see what specific options are available in each version.
'PHOBOS ELITE' STANDARD CONFIGURATION*
* Upcoming BFG NVIDIA® GeForce GTX 295 Graphics Cards (x2 for Quad SLI®)
* BFG NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 for Dedicated PhysX™ Processing
* Intel® Core i7 965 Extreme Edition 3.2GHz Processor
* CoolIt® Contained Liquid Cooling Solution (GPU&CPU)
* MSI® Eclipse SLI Intel® X58-based Motherboard
• Patriot® 6GB PC3-12800 1600MHz DDR3 Memory
* 4x Western Digital® VelociRaptor 300GB Hard Drives
* Slot Loading Blu-ray® Super Multi Optical Drive
* BFG LS-1200 1200W High Efficiency Power Supply
* Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1 Sound Card
* Integrated iPhone®/iPod® syncing dock
* Unique 8" Interactive Touch Panel LCD
* In-Home Set Up Included with Every Phobos Purchase
*Based on current configuration at the time of printing. Specifications and available options subject to change. See www.bfgsystems.com for updates.
Refined Aesthetics. Unbelievable Performance. Concierge Service.
________________________________________
Andy Sernovitz: Big event on January 22nd: BlogWell: How Big Companies Use Social Media
From: Andy Sernovitz andy@sernovitz.com
Subject: Wanted to make sure you saw this
Date: Wed, 07 Jan 2009 12:47:11 -0600
To: ron@themayreport.com
Hey Ronald -
Sorry if I've already bugged you about this, but I'm pretty excited about an event we have coming up in two weeks. If you haven't heard we are hosting an awesome event on January 22nd in Chicago. It's called BlogWell: How Big Companies Use Social Media. The full agenda and all other details are at http://gaspedal.com/blogwell.
This is going to be an amazing half day event. Executives from 8 Fortune 150 companies are going to share insights, stories, and case studies on how they do corporate blogging and social media.
Walmart
The Home Depot
Procter & Gamble
H&R Block
Allstate
Sharpie
Mayo Clinic
US Coast Guard
Other industry leaders attending include: Boeing, Crate & Barrel, General Mills, Molson, Orange Business Services, Orbitz, PepsiCo, Sears Holdings, Sigma-Aldrich, Steelcase, Tellabs, Ticketmaster, Tyson, Whirlpool
Cheers,
Andy
Andy Sernovitz
andy@gaspedal.com | 312-932-9000
twitter.com/sernovitz
Learn Word of Mouth Marketing:
WOM Crash Courses: http://events.gaspedal.com
Blog:
Damn, I Wish I'd Thought of That!
www.damniwish.com
Book:
Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
www.wordofmouthbook.com
Work:
GasPedal - www.gaspedal.com
Blog Council - www.blogcouncil.org
Northwestern's Medill School - Faculty, teaching WOM
____________________________________________
Upcoming ITDA events
Subject: Upcoming ITDA Events
Date: 1/5/2009 12:27:55 P.M. Central Standard Time
From: liu@itda.biz
To: RONALDMAY@aol.com
CC: Rusch@itda.biz
Ron,
Happy New Year! I hope you're doing well and had a wonderful holiday!
I wanted to keep you posted on our upcoming event for this January 2009 and
also our new program FastTrac® TechVenture.
ExpertPerspectives360 - Tuesday, January 20th, 2009
Our newest program series of discussion seminars bring together four-person
panels of experienced entrepreneurs and domain experts to explore specific
topics that are important to entrepreneurial success.
-Topic: "Demystifying Technology Entrepreneurship"
-Panelists:
Caralynn Nowinski - Midwest Venture Partners
David Adler - Adler Law Group
Herb White - W. Herbert White & Co., Inc.
John Noel - ITDA
-Location:
University of Illinois at Chicago
Student Center East
Illinois Room C
750 South Halsted Street
Chicago, Illinois 60607
-Time:
8:30am-9:15am Networking & Refreshments
9:15am-10:30 Seminar & Discussion
-Registration:
ITDA Members -$20
Non-Members - $35 ($40 at the door)
Monday Morning Meeting - Monday, January 26, 2008
-Location:
Illinois Institute of Technology
University Technology Park
Tech Business Center
Atrium
10 West 35th Street
Chicago, IL 60616
-Time:
8:30am-9:15am Networking
9:15am-11:30am Presentations
-Co-Host: The IIT Knapp Center & University Technology Park at IIT
-Presenting Companies:
EcoThermics Corporation
Swim Lane Software
Element Bars
-Registration:
ITDA Members - FREE
Non-Members - $15 ($20 at the door)
We also will be introducing our new comprehensive business planning program
FastTrac® TechVenture that addresses the needs of start-up entrepreneurs
who are refining their business ideas, writing their business plans and
seeking to grow sustainable high-impact companies. The program combines
instruction from experienced business professionals, one-on-one business
mentoring, peer learning, and ample tools to help entrepreneurs produce all
the elements of an effective business. After completing the class,
entrepreneurs walk away with a detailed business plan and executive summary
presentation, and a strong understanding of how to finance a company.
The ITDA is the only organization in Illinois that currently offers this
premiere program.
The program begins February 24th until May 5th, 2009 (1 week break March
31st, 2009). Classes meets Tuesdays from 3:00-6:00pm.
Members: $1,200
Non-Members: $1,800
For more information or questions on FastTrac® TechVenture, please contact
myself, Kathy liu at 312.373.7184 or email liu@itda.biz
If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks!
Warmest Regards,
Katherine Liu
Marketing Manager
Illinois Technology Development Alliance
549 West Randolph Street
Suite 600
Chicago, Illinois 60661
P 312.373.7184
F 312.229.1978
www.itda.biz
Creating the next generation of better, faster, smarter technology
entrepreneurs by connecting, educating and connecting entrepreneurs while
catalyzing seed and early stage investment within the community.
_________________________________________
MSPC January Meeting Announcement , Wednesday Jan. 7th -- oops, we missed that one
Subject: MSPC January Meeting Announcement
Date: 12/16/2008 10:07:46 A.M. Central Standard Time
From: sherralynpeterson@sbcglobal.net
To: ronaldmay@aol.com
Date:
Wednesday,
January 7, 2009
Time:
5:00 pm - 8:30pm
Location:
Marcello's Restaurant
645 W. North Ave.
Chicago, IL
Ph: 312-654-2550
For directions only
FREE PARKING
To RSVP Call
312-201-0596
MSPC Consultants College Program
The Thriving in Recession - Consulting to the Bottom Line
Presented by:
Tom Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald Associates
Remember, make your reservations by Noon Monday, Jan 5th for the EARLY BIRD Rate.
We look forward to seeing you on the 7th.
...A Peek at Some of the Evening's Highlights:
Each One Reach One
Bring a Guest (a Business
Contact or Fellow Consultant)
The Thriving in Recession - Consulting to the Bottom Line
(Pre-Dinner Track)
Corporate consultant and business catalyst Tom FitzGerald discusses how a consultant or a CEO can proactively use the recession, not only to survive in spite of it, but to thrive
because of it. In this recession, there exists a powerful opportunity and impetus for every company to significantly improve both its bottom line and its long term
competitiveness. Based on the proprietary tools and
methods his company has developed over the last thirty
years (and several downturns) Tom will share both his
company's methodology and intellectual property on how
to transform a company's very _Will to Compete_. So
important is this "Will to Compete", that changing it by just
20% changes the bottom line by 40%. Tom's approach has
been validated in longitudinal studies by McKinsey and the London School of Economics.
Tom Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Associates, since 1976, has been
a corporate catalyst, business diagnostician, and consulting management engineer. Previously, he was with the
consulting practice of Touche Ross (now Deloitte) and the
Apollo Space program. In 1980 Tom's company created a
unique technology to identify and measure the root
causes/drivers of corporate performance, rather than the expressions of performance; and to use these causes/drivers
to transform performance. His company's approach has been validated by longitudinal studies of more than 4,000
companies. Tom has personally worked with CEO's, COO's,
CFOs, owners, directors and managing officers of more than
200 organizations in the US, Canada and Europe, ranging in
size from start-up to Fortune Five Hundred. He is an
accomplished speaker and writer. His work has appeared
in more than 40 publications. Articles by and about him have
been published at least monthly in national and international business magazines like American Banker, Strategic Finance,
CEO Refresher, Fast Company, Corporate Finance Review, Turnaround Management, and others. The second (digital)
edition of his book can be accessed at Fire in the Corporate
Belly www.managementconsultants.com/content.cfm/fireinthecorpbelly. Over the years Tom has spoken on this subject before hundreds, perhaps thousands, of C-level managers. Tom is by education, a physicist, by birth, Irish and by instinct and experience a business catalyst. Tom's company information is available at www.managementconsultants.com. Tom is a past member of MSPC.
For further details, visit our website at:
www.mspc.org/Jan2009.html
Call 312-201-0596 for a reservation
www.mspc.org/reservations.html
__________________________________________
Readers' comments and responses (7 messages)
______________________
#1: From: Adcock, Melanie Melanie.Adcock@savogroup.com
Subject: RE: The May Report: 1/07/2009: Len Bland & David Carman draw more than 50 people to their monthly business plan presentation group; Josh Karp's new venture, theprintedblog; and I have to go...
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 12:21:44 -0600
To: The May Report ron@themayreport.com
Hi there Ron,
It's me Melanie Adcock, the nice lady who always says hi to you at those
networking events. :) I was wondering if you could add my other e-mail
address to your list? Melanie_adcock@msn.com I have more storage space
on that e-mail and I can more easily keep everything you send without it
getting deleted every 30 days. My e-mail at work gets so clogged up with
sales stuff that I don't have time to keep that one as organized.
Hope everything is going well for you and I'll see you later.
-Melanie
_________________________
Melanie Adcock
Sales Development Representative
(Direct) 312-506-1757
(Fax) 312-506-1701
melanie.adcock@savogroup.com
www.savogroup.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#2: From: gene daly gene@seologic.com
Subject: Re: The May Report: 1/07/2009: Len Bland & David Carman draw more than 50 people to their monthly business plan presentation group; Josh Karp's new venture, theprintedblog; and I have to go...
Date: Wed, 7 Jan 2009 10:24:53 -0600
To: The May Report ron@themayreport.com
Hi Ron, Happy New Year... hope you're doing well.
National story with a local angle: You should ask Dr. Sobel to weigh in on the Steve Jobs statement... he's my Doc (thyroid) as well.
All the best in 2009.
~ Gene.
Gene Daly
Chief Executive Officer
SEO Logic
Search Engine Optimization and Placement Services
818 Harrison Street, Suite 205
Oak Park, Illinois 60304
Phone: 708.445.9800
Toll-free: 877.735.6442
E-mail: gene@seologic.com
www.seologic.com
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#3: From: Kate Sansone ksansone@cityofchicago.org
Subject: Re: The May Report: 12/31/2008: Many cards and letters and other odds and ends to finish up an incredible year; behind the scenes Katherine Gehl planning satellite Gala in Chicago on January 20th (OUT OF OFFICE - Auto Reply)
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:19:49 -0600
To: The May Report ron@themayreport.com
I will be out of the office until Monday, January 5.
If you need assistance during this time, please contact 312-744-3334. Thank you.
Kate Sansone
Mayor's Press Office
City of Chicago
>>> ron 12/31/08 13:19 >>>
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#4: From: Ed_Longanecker@aeanet.org
Sender: Ed_Longanecker@aeanet.org
Subject: Re: The May Report: 12/31/2008: Many cards and letters and other odds and ends to finish up an incredible year; behind the scenes Katherine Gehl planning satellite Gala in Chicago on January 20th
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:43:51 -0800
To: "The May Report"
Busy week for TMR. Nice report. Hope you have a prosperous new year.
Ed Longanecker
Executive Director, Regional Director of State Government Affairs
AeA Midwest Council - Advancing the Business of Technology
18W140 Butterfield Road, 15th Floor
Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181
Phone: 630-613-7174 / Fax: 630-613-7175
http://www.aeanet.org | ed_longanecker@aeanet.org
View the AeA Monthly News online: http://www.aeanet.org/MWnews1208
AeA - Advancing the Business of Technology ®
Access to Investors • State, Federal & International Lobbying
Insurance Services • Government Procurement • Business Networking
Foreign Market Access • Select Business Services • Executive Education
AeA Resource Guide: http://www.aeanet.org/portfolio
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#5: From: Cohen, Marisa MarisaCohen@jvschicago.org
Subject: Love your emails - Happy New Year!
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:53:30 -0600
To:
Dear Ron:
I just wanted to thank you for continuing to send me your newsletters and let you know that because of the awareness in the community you provide, I as of now joined and am a member of Association for Strategic Planning. I will be attending their upcoming event in January and will be sure to say I was referred via your newsletter!
Keep in touch,
Marisa Cohen
JVS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#6: From: Jonathan Otto jotto@ringsidenetworks.com
Sender: jonathan.otto@gmail.com
Subject: Re: The May Report: 12/31/2008: Many cards and letters and other odds and ends to finish up an incredible year; behind the scenes Katherine Gehl planning satellite Gala in Chicago on January 20th
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:25:19 -0600
To: "The May Report"
Hello,
Please do something to reorganize your newsletter. Some questions I
frequently have, what's new and what's old? What's an advertisement
and what's real?
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
#7: From: Herman, Evan F Evan.Herman@morganstanley.com
Subject: Congratulations - Lunch
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:46:39 -0500
To: wweaver@reedsmith.com
Cc: ron@themayreport.com
Bill,
Congratulations on your retirement. I wish you well as you move to a new phase in your life.
I heard the news from Ron May of the May Report (cc'd on this message). I write today as I believe there may have been a misunderstanding during our brief conversation yesterday.
I was reaching out to you as I work on a team (The Janowiak Group) at Morgan Stanley that works with mid market private tech companies helping them raise capital and over the long plan for an exit strategy/sell side transaction.
The reason I contacted you was as a person of prominence in the tech and legal community in Chicago, my team leader Stan Janowiak and I, were hoping to find time in the coming weeks to take you out to lunch, and introduce ourselves.
I was not calling you for personal business as I believe might have been your understanding.
Stan and I have created a new/unique business model within the private wealth division of Morgan Stanley.
We are a hybrid of investment banking (through an outsource network of bouitique invstment banks), commercial banking, and private wealth management. By fully covering business owners and their corporations, and leveraging the extensive reach and relatinoships of Morgan Stanley, we offer a unique value proposition to Chicago businesses and their owners.
One way Stan and I are making inroads into the Chicago teach community is by developing informal relationships with people of prominence/influence like yourself. I hope if a meeting along these lines is agreeable to you we can find time in the early weeks of 2009 to take you out to lunch and introduce our business in more detail.
Happy new year and once again congratulations.
Best,
Evan Herman
The Janowiak Group - Morgan Stanley
70 W. Madison St., Suite 300
Chicago, IL 60602
Evan.herman@ms.com
312-827-6623
__________________________________________
A blog posting on Androcass you may find interesting -- remember this guy has never met me or been hit by my cane, so he is much nicer than is justified -- but nonetheless I take this as a high compliment and I should have lunch with this guy
++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://androcass.blogspot.com/2008/12/visitor-for-holiday.html
Thursday, December 25, 2008
A visitor for the holiday
No, not Santa. However, the gifts have been opened, the food eaten, the sugar plums nestled, and my 24 hours away from the computer are over. So, back, and ready for action.
And I received a comment on my post centering on the Chicago Tribune story about Karl Buschmann and his employment woes. Leaving aside the content of the comment for now (not because I have any issue with it, simply because it doesn't fit with this post), I'm excited to say it came from Ron May.
Now, of course, I value anyone who leaves a comment; I'm thrilled that people are reading and, perhaps to some extent, enjoying, but Ron May is kind of special. To those of you not in Chicago, or not in the tech scene, you probably don't know who that is. But if you're a sentient Chicago tech person, you must know him, if only through the Ron May Report (I've linked to the About page so you can get some flavor of what it's all about).
The Report is difficult to summarize exactly, just as Ron May himself is. I have a picture of Mr. May that I've developed from his writing and some people who have encountered him (I have never met him myself), and I gather that a first impression of him for a lot of folks is "eccentric." As I understand it, Mr. May goes to various events of a technical nature in and around Chicago, whether invited or not, and talks to people and experiences the events and comes home and writes this sprawling report on what is going on. And he's been doing this for years, all through the late '90s tech boom, into the bust, and he's still going today (whatever you call this period we're in). He focuses mainly on the entrepreneurs and angels, the venture capital firms and the start-ups, but he has written on some of the larger mainline firms (those that are still here, that is).
About the closest I can come to giving you the flavor of the May Report is to tell you that it's a pre-blog, something that existed in the dark days before blogging but has some of the same flavor. The distinction is, of course, that Mr. May is doing primary reporting, that he's out talking to the people, going to the events, figuring out what's going on and conveying it to his readers. If you have seen the pallid excuse for tech reporting that we tend to have in Chicago, you would understand that Ron May is really the only person living up to the ideals of journalism in this field in this place.
Now there is an element of gossip in some of the stories in the Report, and there is always the possibility that a correspondent or tipster might have an ax to grind, so one could criticize the Report for not meeting the standards of a "real" news source. However, when you look at some of the monstrous reporting that is being done at some of our "major" news outlets (see Dean Baker or Brad DeLong for examples), you realize that having an ethics policy is no guarantee of accuracy.
I think there will be theses written in the future on the rise and fall of technology in Chicago, and the names Filipowski and Bernard will figure prominently (if not always admirably). Any student who wants to get at the heart of what went on during this period had better move beyond the morgues of the Tribune and the Sun-Times if there is any desire to capture what really happened and how it felt, and the primary source would have to be The May Report. I don't know if such things and people exist in other cities, but it would be nice to think that someone is putting forth that kind of effort to chronicle these interesting times. At least we have Ron May, and I welcome him here (even if he never returns).
Posted by Androcass at 2:25 PM
Labels: blogging, journalism, technology
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