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| Tuesday, September 19, 2006 |
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Delta 
I feel safer already
| | Meanwhile, I'm stuck without a driver's license, but more importantly, I think TSA *GAVE* it to some other passenger. After several hours at JFK, I checked back with the JetBlue service center, and they had not been given my license. |
| | And the kicker. When I arrived back in CA, I realize that I still have a small tube of toothpaste in my laptop bag (I carry a tube plus a brush to work) and forgot about it. It went with me through two screenings by the TSA in Oakland and Seattle, and two more, Oakland and JFK. |
Shot at sunrise
First 2 last
| | Which is what I majored in, by the way. Not technology. |
| | Meanwhile, the Jacksonville Jaguars have opened their season by beating Dallas and the defending champion Pittsburgh Steelers. |
| | I'm expecting both teams to go all the way. |
Invented here
| | The restaurant's food wasn't something you would go out of your way for, except for a goat cheese appetizer that Ivey said "was to die for." The restaurant became a favorite of the Voxeo staff almost entirely because of the appetizer. But the staff recently learned that the menu had changed and the goat cheese appetizer was no longer on it. |
| | The restaurant had hired a new chef who wanted the menu to reflect his vision, not the past chef's. Ivey told the story to point out that it is easy for companies to ignore what products or features attracted the customers they already have. Ignoring this risks alienating those customers such that they may quickly become ex-customers, just as most of the Voxeo staff has. Ivey offers "don't take goat cheese off the menu" as a phrase that can be used to remind companies not to forget what the customers liked about the company. |
| | The reverse is true as well - don't forget to replace what the customers hate. Preserving bad products because you know how to make them is at least as much of a risk as tossing out the good ones. |
| | Back when we lived in the Bay Area and had ACT subscriptions, we almost always ate at the Grand Cafe, mostly because of the restaurant's appetizers, especially the mushroom soufflé. The last time I went there, I took a large bunch of people, talking up the mushroom soufflé right up to the point where we found they no longer have it; but rather have a new chef who got rid of it. |
| | Nothing from the new chef equaled it. I doubt I'll go back. As for the rest of the crowd, I have no idea. But there are too many choices in San Francisco. Without standout signature qualities, your restaurant is toast. |
| | Same goes for companies, of course. Everything with a soul. |
Remembering PC Forum
| | The trial was held all last week. I testified on Thursday on the subject of invalidity. Friday the jury handed down a verdict of no infringement and also invalidated all the asserted claims. |
| | Dan points to this blawg for background on the prospects in East Texas, where the case was tried, for clients like his. So, congrats are in order. |
| | Reminds me that I once had a pile of stuff to say about patents. Some samples are here, here and here. |
| | The second of those was published at PC Forum, which for almost thirty years was the premier computer industry conference — and one where I got to know Dan — and so many other industry folks. If you wanted to meet the real A-list, this was the place where you not only met them, but discovered that what they were doing, and what we all needed to talk about, was far more important than who anybody was. |
| | I attended nearly every PC Forum from the late 80s through 2005. Many times I paid the full four-figure fee, out of my own small company's pocket, rather than, say, buying a car. Because it was totally worth it. No yearly event had more leverage for me, personally, ever, in more ways, than PC Forum. |
| | Turns out this year's was the last. The theme was "User In Charge". The topic was right up my alley; but alas, I couldn't make it. |
| | But the subject, as usual, was the right one. Because, it turns out, PC Forum didn't reach the end of the road. It finished paving the road we're all traveling now. |
| | Going to PC Forum every year was a treat and a privilege for me. So, big hugs and thanks to Esther, Daphne and the crew for a job extremely well done. |
Be there now
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