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This week an award was given to the President of the Czech Republic by a Puget Sound think-tank known as the Washington Policy Institute. The organization’s primary goals are to support democracy free market principles. The award was given to Václav Klaus and he spoke that evening to a group gathered in Seattle. Several from Tacoma were in attendance.

In his published speech he spoke out against the EU, saying that his nation had little choice in joining and that the effects have been the loss of freedom, democracy and free-market liberties.

I would like to focus on his comments about global warming alarmism. As a world leader he is faced with the effects of this trend and in his speech offered some insights that seem to be lacking in American discourse. I apologize for lifting so much of the text, but I think it’s important to hear it all in his words, rather than mine. I’m not an economist or world leader. (more…)

The Tacoma Club was once more than just ‘An Unparalleled Business & Social Club’. For years it was the place to be if you wanted to do business in Tacoma, especially if your company was business-to-business play.

Tacoma’s business community has a lot of unwritten rules. But if you want to do business here you have to know the rules and live by them. Mostly, these rules tell you which organizations to join and which ones to contribute to. The Tacoma Club was one of those ‘must have’ memberships. But all of that changed.

I wish I could say that the rules have gone away, but they’ve just been ‘rewritten’. It used to be that you had to schmooze the local elite and rub elbows with the good ol’ boys. Now you have to show your green credentials and rub elbows with artists. Same game, different names.
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Here’s a little insight for small businesses into the world of software applications for their business. It’s a brief overview of how small businesses meet their specialized computing needs, from off-the-shelf packages to custom development.

Many small to medium sized businesses have information processing needs that go beyond the capabilities of off-the-shelf software packages such as QuickBooks or Act!. Some augment the packaged application with small custom databases or spreadsheets in general purpose applications like Microsoft’s Access and Excel. Some find industry specific applications that meet their needs or can be modified to reach a level of adequacy. But beyond that a company enters the world of software development and suddenly it’s a whole new ball game.
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The chairman of the FCC has been a proponent of the government providing wireless broadband Internet access to everyone in the U.S. I think this is a ridiculous idea. He calls it a ’social obligation’. I think that’s a ridiculous idea.

When the U.S. brought electricity to rural areas of the country there was some justification for it. Not much, but some. It raised the standard of living for everyone including people in rural areas who would likely have had to wait a few more years. But this idea doesn’t even begin to measure up to the value added to our nation when the electric grid was socialized.

People in rural areas have telephones. Telephones provide access to the Internet via dial-up providers such as AOL or any number of local or regional providers. So what is this ’social obligation’ based on? If everyone has access to the Internet if they want it (and can afford it) then how much would they be benefited if we spent billions to provide them with broadband access. It’s the same Internet. They just have to spend a couple of extra minutes waiting for what they want to download.
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This is fairly big news from the home electronics industry. A bunch of companies got together, as they often do, to come up with a new technology standard that could have a huge impact on home entertainment. Some of these standards have been attempted before, but a recent technology breakthrough might make it practical for everyday home use.

The term ‘Firewire’ is an industry buzzword for something engineers refer to as IEEE 1394. This is one of those industry standards that’s used in many computer and video devices. As is always the case with these standards there is a little bit of variation between manufacturers that comes down to a simple matter of compatibility. In other words, even though it’s a ’standard’ it doesn’t mean that it will always work correctly.

Firewire has been in use for several years. What’s new is that the industry has agreed on a way to use coaxial cable that is probably in your house already. This new and innovative approach will allow you to hook up a device known as ‘bridge’ to the same cable you connect to your TV. Installing these bridges in different rooms of the house will allow video and computer traffic to go across the existing cable.
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There’s a lot to be learned from economic bubbles. Have you ever stopped to think about who it is that actually blows the bubble in the first place?

Whenever there’s money to be made the ‘used car salesmen’ show up trying to get their mitts on some of the cash that’s floating around. Since they’re seldom able to add any real value to what’s happening (no real business skills, no tech skills, etc.) they find places to apply what little skill they do have.

The skill I’m talking about is a combination of emotionally manipulative banter and a lack of scruples. It’s the skills that created the stereotype that comes to mind when used car salesmen are mentioned.

Unfortunately, people with that ’skill’ aren’t restricted to peddling cars for a living. They’ll push any wares that are attractive to or needed by a large and ignorant audience. You’ll find them anywhere that you can find a lot of people willing to buy something that they don’t completely understand.
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Is this what conservatives have needed? A few techno-conservatives have banded together to create a new site called ‘The NextRight‘ that they hope will shift the center of gravity on the Internet back toward the political right (h/t NewsBusters.Org). Here’s what they say about what they’re planning:

The Next Right is the place for wired activists to build a new Republican Party and conservative movement. As a community-driven grassroots action website for the right, we’ll feature in-depth political analysis, on-the-ground reports, and strategic discussion and debate.

Sounds cool to me. It sounds like they’re on the right track (pardon the pun), but many questions remain.

Will they be able to provide the tools to make it happen? Will anyone want to use the tools? Will anyone (such as the McCain campaign) try to exploit it for votes? Will real conservatives find a home there or is it just another attempt by RINO’s to sport their fake conservative credentials?
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I’ve been around or in the computer industry since the Altair 8800 appeared in Popular Electronics magazine in Dec. ‘74 and Jan. ‘75. I’ve seen a lot of new technologies splash onto the scene. I’ve seen a lot of them sink and I’ve seen some swim for varying lengths of time.

Some new ideas really are new ideas. Most are just a rehashing of old ideas from other sectors of the industry or other industries altogether (the entertainment industry has provided some ideas along the way).

Most of the micro-computer industry’s ideas were taken from other places, most notably Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). It’s the home of Mac’s graphic user interface (GUI), Ethernet, our current email approach and some others of lesser note.

As new ideas come along they initially face the uphill climb of distinguishing themselves from other ideas, some of which are solid and established, some may have failed in the past and some of which are doomed to fail. Those that are able to establish themselves (speaking metaphorically) have a shot at catching on. Unfortunately, in some cases, the ones that catch on aren’t the best ideas.
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While the growth of The TacomaAngel Network (TAN) is important, what I really want to point to is their efforts to make Tacoma a better environment in which to do business. Tacoma is a tough place to do business for many reasons, most of which I won’t go into in this post.

Tacoma has tried unsuccessfully for years to attract businesses from outside the area. So far the local successes have been local startups. Honestly, I don’t really see that changing very much in the near future. Unfortunately, Tacoma is so tough to do business in, once a business is capable of moving to another city, they often do.

Tacoma’s best bet is to work with people and businesses that started here. TAN is a good example of how that can be done. While venture capital will likely grow businesses to prominence more quickly, there’s generally not a lot of venture capital available in the early stages. Angel investing, while it is a form of venture capital, is much more hands-on and provides a lot more in the way of guidance and advice, along with the usual oversight that any venture capitalist will require.
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As I said in an earlier post, Tacoma does not have a significant customer base of consumers of technology. Two small computer stores and a handful of consultants and software developers seem to meet the demand rather well.

There are some local companies with significant technology needs. Most of those have learned to manage either with their own staff or with outside resources. Many of those resources come from either a small pool that are often dedicated to serving them, or from outside the area.

However, I have seen a significant number of businesses that struggle with their technology needs. I believe that by focusing some resources on (free) education and advice it would be possible to help those businesses meet their technology demands and to open the local market to more computer technology businesses.
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