David LaPlante

Confidentiality Notices are Annoying - Some better ways to let people know to keep it on the QT

You've seen them. Maybe you get only a few a day, I seem to get hundreds. Usually they come in the form of a one-sentence email from your attorney and a 300-1,000 word essay / legal briefing on confidentiality at the bottom. Below is a sooper-shorty one for example:

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
The information contained in this e-mail correspondence is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL. If you are not the named recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, duplication, distribution or the taking of any action in reliance upon this correspondence is strictly prohibited. If you received this correspondence in error, please notify the sender by phone, fax, or e-mail and destroy any and all copies of the correspondence. Thank you.

These are really annoying when you read most of your email on a cell phone. I think I've scrolled 10 miles thru these over the last year getting to the bottom of the thread.

Have you noticed they usually come from professionally anal people? Pretty much every attorney, accountants and HR professional I know has 200-1,000 words of fine print at the top, bottom and even embedded in the header. Especially email from those old men who smell like old spice and are always trying to recall one politician or another and love rambling on-and-on-and-on at public forums. They love appending their emails with all kinds of crazy stuff like this.

Here's a couple Nevada-specific idea for a Confidentiality Notice that I'd like to see/use in my email. Short and sweet. Probably just as effective. Liven things up a little:

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
I live in Nevada. We have lots of abandoned mineshafts and ample room for shallow graves. Keep this email to yourself.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
Just like those photos of you I took in Vegas, what happens in your Inbox stays in your Inbox.

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE
Like I trust my .40, I trust you to keep email this to yourself. I have a Basque/Italian family, BTW.

What kind of Confidentiality Notices would you like to fly?

  Technorati : confidentiality, disclaimer, email, humor, legal, nevada, notice

Entrepreneurship Week USA February 24 thru March 3, 2007

Entrepreneurship Week USA -- a nationwide celebration of entrepreneurship -- is February 24 to March 3, 2007. It’s a great opportunity for Nevada to showcase and encourage the entrepreneurs upon which Nevada's economic future depends. Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology has partnered with Entrepreneurship Week to promote within Nevada.

“Entrepreneurs, educators, community leaders and young people across the US will celebrate the power of entrepreneurship and ignite the nation’s consciousness about the importance of being entrepreneurial.” 

Ideas for the week include open houses, workshops and an “Entrepreneur Expo.” The Expo includes workshops targeted towards entrepreneurs, including: Bootstrapping your Business | Incubators | How to Write a Business Plan | Financing Primer | Marketing | Technology for your Business.

The Entrepreneur's Expo would be free to attendees. Please visit www.entrepreneurship.com for more ideas and for general “eWeek” information.

tags: NCET, entrepreneurship, technology, Nevada, entrepreneurship week

Oracle's Safra Catz, Senator Ensign and Nevada's Workforce Future

Quick event summary:

• The time, money and energy we --America-- waste on the IRS and our ridiculous tax-code evasion game if invested in R&D and education would ensure our global dominating class-barrier-breaking affluent economy. We piss our advantage away on lawyers and accountants playing a stupid cat-and-mouse game with the IRS. Stupid we collectively are.
  
• Most of the most common practices of successful, profitable and consistently performing businesses-- accountability, terminating weak performers, employee and management incentives, innovation culture, free markets, access to union-free labor -- is absent in our public schools.
  
• Our H1B Visa policy is insanely bass-ackwards. "Let's educate our global competitors here in the US and then kick them out so we can outsource our jobs back to them." Sweet.
  
• Sarbanes-Oxley ('Sox') has exported our best small and mid-sized public capital offerings to foreign countries. While well intentioned, the lawyers and accountants again are making all the money while small businesses that used to be able to raise public financing in the US are headed to Canada, Europe and anywhere they can but the US.
  
• Safra Catz for President in 2012. What kind of person can put up with Larry "the Largest Ego in the World" Ellison? Safra Catz. Cool. Level headed. Smart. Witty. Plays the game to win. Humble. Self-depreciating. All the skills to lead one of the largest and most relevant businesses in the world...Oracle. Safra, please come back!
  

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Like most businesses that depend on technology workers, we're constantly hurting for talent. Human capital is as important -- if not more -- than financial capital. Most sage entrepreneurs will tell you...and I'm one of them...human capital -- your workforce -- is what makes or breaks you. (By the way, we're looking for super cool talented kick-ass developers and creative's!)

First-off, what a great event. Awesome. I jotted down notes for about about 15 blog posts. It really got me thinking...

About the the only thing that sucked is that because it was organized by Senator Ensign & Crew a lot of "binary" people of the "D" flavor will immediately discount it and get crimped in their R v. D Kos-style black-and-white politics that dominates most dialog in an October predating an November election. If Reid had organized the event, the 98% of the same things would have been discussed.

So, kudos to Ensign & Crew! He did this event in Las Vegas yesterday as well. Yeah, he's trying to get re-elected. Duh. If you're not a fan of R's -- then at least respect the marketing. Splendid marketing. But at least my 'BS' detector didn't go off to many times today as I thought it would. The dialog was real and genuine. Education and workforce development is CRITICAL to Nevada. No matter what the attendees political flavor, everyone left with their thinking caps on.

The event stimulated great thought and dialog on education and workforce development to make help ensure that businesses (like mine) in Nevada can meet our human capital requirements. The silly thing right now is there's no shortage of "capital capital". We're consistently challenged (like most growing western cities) with attracting and/or retaining enough "human capital".

Again...kudos to Ensign. He's the MAN on the High Tech Task Force. That's a very good thing for Nevada.

While today's event was very science-math-education oriented, I think that there were a few facets of this problem that were not discussed and I'll pick those up in some future posts. Here's the teasers:

1. The Internet is not through trashing the paradigms of society and social institutions as we know it. Mainstream media is under the gun today. Education -- and our traditions built around education -- are about to be blown apart as well. Homeschooling and socialschooling(C) (I made that term up) is going to reshape how we educate.
   
2. I bet you can name 10 people most likely featured in any given issue of People magazine, can you name the top 10 scientists and mathematicians? Why Paris Hilton, Bono and Angelina Jolie will have more influence in solving our dilemma than the gray-haired PHD wielding education majors or the unions.
   
3. My experiences with public schools and parenting. New thoughts on what matters...can you say THESPIAN?
   
4. If access to knowledge, education and information is ubiquitous and a commodity, what separates a Stanford from a UNR? And why "who" you know still matters more than calculating the area of a dodecahedron...
   

tags: ensign, senator, senatorensign, Nevada, Reno, Las Vegas, education, workforce, schools, hightech, high-tech, oracle, Safra, Catz, TMCC, UNR

  Technorati : Catz, Las Vegas, Nevada, Reno, Safra, TMCC, UNR, education, ensign, high-tech, hightech, oracle, schools, senator, senatorensign, workforce
Del.icio.us : Catz, Las Vegas, Nevada, Reno, Safra, TMCC, UNR, education, ensign, high-tech, hightech, oracle, schools, senator, senatorensign, workforce

Wi-the-Fi Can't You Get WiFi at a Convention Center Here?

I write this sitting from a local casino convention center floor with the thumping beats of Huey Lewis & the News in the background...groovy.

While I've written many times how wonderful our EV-DO and EDGE connectivity is in the Reno and Tahoe destination, it's only been in the last year that WiFi connectivity has been lit up aggressively. Visit even the smallest privately owned coffee shop/bar and you're likely to find free WiFi. Places like Java Jungle, the Chocolate Bar, Deux Gros Nez, the Record Street Cafe, Walden's, and of course every Starbucks on "Every Corner" offers T-Mobile HotSpots. Even Anchors Bar & Grill in Sparks has better WiFi than most.

So Wi-the-Fi can't most of the convention centers at the casino gaming properties get it dialed in!? (Insert image of me throwing my cell phone  against a wall and it bursting in to a 1,000 pieces to highlight the emotions that well up while contemplating that last statement.)

For the record, my best experiences have been at the Siena and Harrah's. While pretty much every property touts WiFi of some sort, it's pretty hard to find and reliably connect.

At right is a picture of my desktop as I sit and write this on the floor of one of our largest local hotel convention centers. Bleak. Barren. Devoid. Zip. Zero. Nada. Crazy.

Thanks Sprint for the EV-DO. You should sponsor me. I'm your biggest fan!

While I respect that our visitor demographic on the whole is not part of the "Always On" generation, northern California is our market and that place is lit up.

Perhaps it has in large part to do with local casino executive leadership? When's the last time you saw a local gaming executive hanging out in Java Jungle or Starbucks for that matter banging away on a laptop?

Most casino executives in this region are self -admittedly "unconnected". This doesn't mean they're "bad people", it simply means their priorities are perhaps out-of-sync with the 20/30/40 something's that are living out their business careers in Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton properties. The "unconnected" will never never prioritize WiFi until they get plugged in themselves.

So as we businesses leaders continue to move our office infrastructure to VOIP soft-phones and access to our business intelligence systems and functional processes management to online web applications, I can assure you I will not be the only frustrated business professional "stranded in the desert". Help. Please. 

Record Number of Nevada Companies Presenting at 6th Annual Silver & Gold Venture Capital Conference

From an email from Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology:

A record number of Nevada companies are scheduled to present at the 6th Annual Silver & Gold Venture Capital Conference. At least eleven of this year's presenting companies are from Nevada, in contrast to last year when just three companies were from Nevada.

Co-sponsored by the Sierra Angels, the Silver and Gold Venture Capital Conference will be held October 3 and 4 at the Peppermill Hotel in Reno, NV. The conference will feature over 50 venture capital funds and angel investors - and 30 presenting companies - in four broadly-defined technology sectors: Life Sciences, Communications Technologies / Wireless / Semiconductor, Software and Internet Services, and Emerging Technologies.

The record number of Nevada companies reflects both the growing number and sophistication of Nevada's entrepreneurs, as well as the increasing influence within Nevada of this important Venture Capital conference.

This year's Nevada companies include clean energy, software, camping equipment, and specialty marketing services. (Complete list of Nevada presenting companies)

The Silver & Gold Venture Capital Conference begins at 4:30 pm on Tues, Oct 3 and wraps up at 5:30 pm on Wed, Oct 4. (View complete agenda here) Tickets are $395 per person. Seating is limited at this event, so please register now.

Technorati : Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Reno, entrepreneurship, event marketing, vc, venture capital

Nokia officially launches US-friendly E70 - Engadget Mobile

Since Nokia released the 6682 back in 2004, it's been my phone of choice. There's many a photo of me with this phone in my hand. Every 6682 I've owned is polished from spending hours in my hand.

While I've managed to break a 'couple, it's from living a very hard life. I carry my phone 24x7. It goes skiing. It goes fishing. Hunting. Drinking. To parties. In the mosh pit. It gets drinks spilled on it. It gets sweaty. Steamed up. Frozen. I drop it at least daily, if not more. I've thrown it at people. It keeps working...for the most part.

The 6682 is a text messaging machine. It's the most important piece of tech I own. It's how I stay in touch with most of my close relationships. I send more text messages a day than email. 160 characters. Short, sweet, and to the point.

And now the E70 has arrived in the US.

The new Nokia E70 is perhaps the most anticipated piece of tech for 2006 for me. I saw it at CES in January in Las Vegas and have been dying for it to arrive.

It's been officially released. I have one on order. (My last 6682 has a sticky #5.) I'll let y'all know what I think.

Link to Nokia officially launches US-friendly E70 - Engadget Mobile

tags: Nokia, 6682, E70, cell, phone

Technorati : 6682, E70, Nokia, US, cell, phone
Del.icio.us : 6682, E70, Nokia, US, cell, phone

It’s a Matter of Perspective: Why the iPod Video Screen Size is Perfect for Viewing

So I’m sitting here on a flight to Atlanta and the baby boomer seated next to me has just spent 5 minutes – five futile minutes – lambasting me for buying a video iPod. I’m not sure why he felt so compelled to try and convince me that the iPod video screen is too small to be enjoyable.

So I had him hold up the iPod and compare it to the in-flight movie screen he’d been so entranced with watching for a perspetive comparison. I held up my cell phone for a perspective comparison as well and it became pretty clear that a 12 inch screen 10 feet away is much smaller than a 1.5” screen 12 inches from my nose.

It seems to me that viewing pleasure is about 90% content and 10% screen size. I repeat: People will watch compelling content on ANYTHING given circumstances where this is no other alternative. I’m sure someone will give me the math to break it down. Screen size really is irrelevant as compared to the content and the TRL (Time, Relevance & Location).

Content is still king. Always will be. Distribution is no longer the name of the game. I actually had my camera handy on this flight so I snapped a couple photos of my iPod with an in-flight screen in front of me. See for yourself. Final note: I’d rather watch South Park over CNN any day. Content is king, remember!?

A Long Tail Thriller

It is with great pleasure that I note that Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video on iTunes is right back up in the number one slot. How long is MJ's tail...historical economists 100 years from now will most likely still be asking that question!

"Radio" showing signs of desperation?

From the NAB web site:

Thousands of Stations Join Together In $28 Million Campaign

NEW YORK (Jan. 11, 2005) - In the largest cooperative effort in industry history, local radio stations across the country announced today they have banded together to launch an integrated marketing campaign celebrating the medium's power as the primary source for new music and compelling audio entertainment.

It appears that Radio is officially scared to the tune of 28 million dollars. Is this a sign of desperation? Yes and no. I'm sure Radio thought the same of TV...and were correct in that assumption. Radio could not compete with TV for visual and audio entertainment.

Likewise, TV and Radio has struggled to compete for the interactive audience. Now as consumer-generated media--namely podcasting and blogging--steal away more ears and eyeballs, it only seems fitting that Radio gets up and starts to tout its strengths.

Is it money well spent? Yes and no. Yes if 28 million spent retains 200 million in advertising next year. No if anyone believes this will prevent blogging and podcasting from significantly denting the medium.

Electronic Payments Exceed Paper

For the first time, Americans' use of credit cards, debit cards and other electronic bill paying has eclipsed paper checks. I suppose this would represent a "no looking back now" point in time.

I wonder if my two boys will ever write a check in their lifetime? Will we read about the "last check written" in the next ten years?

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Red Herring is Back!

Red Herring is back in print! The new magazine just arrived in the mail and I must say it looks awesome. Glad to see it back in print.

Joel Dreyfuss, their new editor, has a view about this phoenix rising from the ashes:

There's both a challenge and a burden in dealing with a legacy. Since its inception in 1993, the Red Herring has been the chronicler of the spectacular ascendancy of the technology industry. The magazine tracked, celebrated, questioned, and demystified the wild and crazy times that came to a screeching halt in the spring of 2000. As a major force in creating the industry's self-perception and an active beneficiary of the tech boom, Red Herring also suffered. The magazine ceased publishing in March 2003.

A lot of people missed the Red Herring, which is why a group of investors led by our publisher, Alex Vieux, decided to bring it back. Despite its occasional irrational exuberance, the Herring took the technology industry seriously when most business publications still saw

Silicon Valley

as a kind of northern Californian Disneyland. The Red Herring understood early on that something unusual was taking place in

Silicon Valley

. Money and talent were coming together to innovate -- and to change the ways we lived and worked. People with money were taking big risks, and being rewarded.

Read the Letter from the Editor.

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Working on a Saturday with Logan

It's 90 degrees today in Reno and while I'd rather be up in the Sierra with the boys cooling off by a river, I've got work to do. My son Cody has strep. So headed to the office for the AC and have been working on my Inbox for several hours trying to get caught up from several weeks of nonstop meetings, travel and conference calls. Before I left for vacation on June 30, I had my inbox down to 56 e-mails. Somehow - even with diligent deletions and delegations - it's blossomed back up to 467. Ugh!

Meanwhile, my son Logan decided to visit the office with me and "work" on his computer. He's been at it for almost four hours. Reader Rabbit and Elmo' Reading Basics are getting some serious attention. The kid's going to teach himself how to read before he's six.

Logan quote of the day: "Daddy, why does the mouse I'm using have a wire and yours doesn't?"
Observant little guy. I swear he hates wires. Like me.

It's quite a scene in my office. Empty cans of soda, empty McDonald's bags:  it looks like we're both getting work done. The Supersuckers are blaring amidst the curious sounds of Elmo and Cookie Monster in the background. Just another Saturday afternoon at the office with Logan. Mmmmmm COOKIES!

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E-mail Open Rates

Someone wrote:

Can someone tell me what are respectable numbers for e-mail open rates and click through rates? I mainly write and design e-mails, so this is a new area for me.

You have probably asked one of the more difficult questions that face e-mail marketers. Not to be rhetorical, but “what do you want it to be?”

If you dispose yourself of the 30 percent of the list that has failed to open an e-mail in the last 12 communications, you’ll likely see a great jump. And you can argue that you saved money by not wasting the bits and bytes on those folks ;-)

Ideally the question is: How can I segment my list to better understand, make relevant and dialog with the specific behavior groups to influence an ultimate result of [fill in the blank]? Where “fill in the blank” can be increased lead volume, sales, reduced support calls, etc.

Take a classroom analogy to your list, and you’re the teacher.

Segment that list in to As thru Fs. You most certainly don’t want to lose any As – so do something that 9/10 teachers fail to do: Ask them why they like you! Armed with that information, pick some Bs and Cs and turn them into As.

Now the hard part of being a teacher is knowing when to give up. “Never give up!” some fellow teachers will yell and scream. But if you allocate too much of your time and attention to the failing students (who never even show up), you may lose a few of those As and Bs.

Know when to give up. And know what your “graduation rates” are. That I got straight As in shop didn’t always mean I was well armed to graduate and be a future marketer!

Design and copy can play a great role in influencing segments to improve their group performance. However, there’s likely a dozen other influencers to contend with that may be beyond the control of Photoshop and some snappy copy. Break that list up and start experimenting.

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Push v. Pull and Why E-mail Will be Neither

Russell Nelson, a.k.a "The Angry Economist" posted some thoughts on e-mail and its life expectancy. While I think he's got some valid points, his solution is centered on a life-after-death experience of "pure pull e-mail":

Right now, when you send e-mail to someone, you send a message from your client machine to their server. The e-mail is stored on the recipient's machine until they read the e-mail. Under the new system, you would create a web page, and store it on a server. The URL would be something unguessable like http://example.com/~nelson/827134282173614682732.html. If I wanted to send that e-mail to someone, I would point them to that URL. If I wanted to send it to many someones, I would point a program to that URL, and it would create an index of available messages.

While this would work for "most of the time," it's not feasible for the communications that require the push of information. Granted, most e-mail servers would adopt mechanisms to manifest this pulling into a representation of pull. However, there will undoubtedly be the situations where the information must be pushed to recipients.

For pull to work 100 percent of the time, connectivity must be fairly ubiquitous. Which it is not. Furthermore, as much as we would hope pulling would be the ultimate filter, uncertainty of the simple point-in-time of when something was "sent" versus received introduces too many variables of alteration. That there's a lesson in security we all know that is "unguessable" is not true.

Today, much e-mail is based on pull. In fact, 90 percent of commercial HTML e-mail sent (the legit kind) is based on pull. Images are primarily the culprit of the pull.

Ultimately I believe e-mail will evolve down a path of permission management and grants of rights, pinned by Social networks.

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