Newsletter

Paper or Plastic? - Monopoly board game players can now pay for properties with debit cards. Game maker Parker Brothers have created a new version of the standard board game that won't include the iconic multi-colored cash of your childhood. Players will instead use a Visa mock debit card to keep track of how much they win or lose. The world, it is a changing!

Power your laptop like a spinning wheel from the previous millennium - As the One Laptop per Child project, a nonprofit effort based in Cambridge, MA, nears the completion of its rugged and versatile laptop designed for school children in poor countries, a key component has fallen into place: an efficient, human-powered generator that could make the computer practical for children living in areas without reliable, affordable electricity. Early versions featured a hand-crank, but the new versions have a separate power device that consists of a device with a pull-string. The $100 dollar laptop will include a 7.5-inch screen, a 500 megahertz processor, 500 megabytes of Flash memory, and wireless broadband for forming impromptu networks with other laptops. It will also be a multimedia workstation, supporting the playing and composing of music, for example.

It's Snake-bot to the Rescue! - These days it seems that robots are beginning to creep into every corner of our world, but what do you think about a robot that could slither into those corners or bust through walls? The Snake Robot project is a joint venture between Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (NTNU) and SINTEF. What's truly unique about the snake robot? Unlike most robots which rely on only a part of their body for locomotion, the snake robot attempts to use its entire body to create co-ordinated movements that move it in the desired direction just like a real snake. It has a wide variety of applications: fighting fires where humans can not enter due to heat or the risk of building collapse; underwater operations in connection with maintenance of oil installations on the sea floor; rescue operations in earthquake areas and potentially explosive situations.

Looking to ensure maximum business value for your IT dollars? - Have you ever thought, "For the money we're spending on IT, we should be dominating our market--but we're not. What are we doing wrong?" The bad news is that you're not alone. In fact, nearly all companies have failed investments in software initiatives--many in the six and seven figure range! The good news is that the leading causes of these failures can be avoided by applying Menlo's High-Tech Anthropology® practice. Please join us for a free 90-minute presentation to learn how these failures occur and how High-Tech Anthropology^® not only avoids them, but maximizes the overall business and end-user value. Our approach will show you techniques for creating the right software for the right application. See you on August 17th!

Beep! Beep! Beep! You're done! - As the bikini turns 60, it's entering the electronic age with a new model that features a built-in alarm to warn wearers to get out of the sun - and ease concerns that the scanty swimsuits damage the health. Canadian company Solestrom has come up with the new bikini that goes on sale next month.

Need a little culture in your life? - The Shakespeare Kazoo Bug. The Rhodes Cork Revolution, The Case Rotary Marvel… My grandfather passed along many great lures to my father, and my father passed them along to me, and I lost all of them in the reeds of Lake Isabella. Luckily, they live on at oldfishinglure.com. Come see the rest of the Virtual Museums at the Museum of online museums.

Need a speaker for an upcoming event? - We love public speaking and are happy to deliver inspiring messages focused on business success with information technology. Call us at (734) 665-1847 to schedule your next event. Look here for our current speaking engagements and a list of some topics that we've spoken about in the past. Rich's current favorite is speaking about Thomas Freidman's book, The World is Flat. Check it out!

Caught in a traffic jam? Let Google show you the way. - For mobile phone users in 30 major cities Google Maps for Mobile will allow them to chose a destination within Google Maps and view live traffic data. Highway traffic information is sent to the phone, with road conditions highlighted in three colors: -- red for congested, yellow or orange for slowdowns, and green for smooth sailing.

Your washer's calling and the dryer's on IM - The idea behind Laundry Time, an eight-week pilot program from the Internet Home Alliance, is to allow family members to receive alerts and control certain laundry functions from their PCs, cell phones and television sets. Laundry Time's high-tech vision: "You decide to do your laundry while the family is watching TV. After you start the washer (the system will allow you to implement the process remotely), you relax in front of the TV. Thirty minutes later, an alert pops up on your TV screen saying, “Wash Complete,” so you put the load in the dryer and put another load in the washer. You get a similar alert on your TV when the dryer is done, so you never forget about your laundry and can fold your clothes before they get wrinkled." Just imagine what could be accomplished if all that brain power was spent trying to solve world hunger instead of wrinkled shirts!

Smart ways to spend a few days this summer - Summer is here, so now is the time to sign up for a Menlo class and escape the summer heat while learning new ideas. The good news? The Menlo 2006 class schedule is out! Now you have no excuse not to learn the real secrets of software success.