In the early days we would talk about KnowNow and every one would associate us w/ Tibco and Sonic. We would also get lumped with the stock ticker data delivery engines. Yes, we did have quite a few traders use the product through Excel, in dynamically updated web base dashboards and in reverse auction environments as well.

But, I do believe that the Enterprise Syndication Solution (ESS) actually does bring the right application to market.

I associate this application with fantasy football and apartment hunting in San Francisco. Of course, we have the sport sites (ESPN.com, FOXSports.com, FFToday.com, and other similar sites) to cater to the needs to the serious fantasy players. And, yes, craigslist does a great job of giving you the list of aprtments in your neighbourhood.

But, what do you do when you want to look for specific keywords within those data sources? Why should you have to scan the news of 10 sites to ensure that your player will play and is not injured! Why should you wait for an email to alert you that the apartment in your desired area is available? If your attention span is really the commodity, then aren't you wasting it.

Refreshing the web page, the RSS reader, and your mail client will distract you more drastically than one may anticipate. What if you were presented with an update when your specific keywords should up in the information stream. It is the information stream that you are monitoring - a highway of data that you want to monitor with your specific criteria.

ESS delivers this. If you can install Yahoo Messenger, then you can install ESS Deskbar - a utility that presents toasts as articles meeting your criteria show up in the information source! Yes, it grabs your attention when a toast shows up but isn't that exactly when it should?? Check out the first gen Deskbar and let me know what you think.

JotSpot

I had the privilige of meeting the JotSpot team recently. What a refreshing experience to see an early stage startup and the energy as the team embarks on the "Change the world" journey.

Well, I actually think this one will. The guys are motivated and the product continues to evolve at a rapid pace.

I can start using the blog app to exchange information within my company and the knowledgebase/forums are used by JotSpot themselves! What a way to jumpstart my support group! And, it is a viral app, right. You enable workgroups to get productive, small startups start using it and all of a sudden the corporation needs it!

This is one of a handful of tech companies that I will be watching over the next few years!

The AZ Desert in bloom

The AZ desert gives a fantastic view of desert wild flowers alongside mountains amidst huge expanses of the desert. The Lost Dutchman park has the Treasure Loop that is a great hike. Downtown Phoenix is way off in the distance (30+ miles away).

Back at KnowNow

I am back at Knownow and KnowNow has moved to much nicer digs. ING has found a perfect solution for KnowNow's engine and now it is time to turn it up a notch.

Vietnam Vets bring home Iraqi Vet

Here's a 19 year old going to war and then needing our help. I wonder when we start helping kids that are ordered to go fight. Yeah, they may not have known that they would get sucked into a war, or they may have wanted to fight for their country. Either way, how do we make sure the government (and hence us) takes care of them?

I get it, Adam!

Adam showed me blogs a LONG time ago (OK, maybe 3 years or so ago) and I blew it off. "Who the heck would want to know about someone rambling away about their sorry ass miserable life?!" is what I thought :-)

Now, I just saw the deal where I can restrict access to the blogs. That is what I always wanted. I want my information on the web so that my friends and family can get to it but not just anyone. I also want to put up pictures of my family and let my relatives around the world check them out.

Of course, if the blog is ' out there' then there must be a back door to get to it (other than the admins, etc.)

Adam - I just got it (yeah, you're right - I'm a late adopter).

Succes thru' adversity

I keep on reading stuff where it was never the smarts that made the successful person. It was always the tenacity. Insights into Excellence has that. So does, Harvay Mackay has another article that focuses on this.

I guess this picture says it all- NEVER give up!

This is the kinda stuff they need to beat into you when you show up in college. I can only thank Manny Aroz for saving my ass @ ASU! I guess I didn't give up then.