Australian Story Runs Again

Just got back from Sydney visiting my Dad who had a health scare to find that over 300 people have visited the site in the last hour due to a rerun of the Australian Story episode called "The Big Deal" talking about the struggle with Microsoft. I've also been so privileged to get a lot of wonderful comments on the site about the show and the website... click on the Australian Story icon above to look at articles relating to the show... its a real buzz to think so many fellow Aussies relate to our story... thanks for visiting. Ric

A great idea made better - Pogoplug plus cloud services

The Pogoplug is a really great little solution to personal information and file management. It allows you to connect your hardrive full of stored music, files and videos to be accessed from anywhere on the interent... there is also a real cute interface to the drive system so you can access the drives as if they were local... cool.

But!!!

Wouldn't it be good if... the Pogoplug supplied a service that cached and forwarded copies of the most popular files that have been attempted to be downloaded on the cloud with the intent to increase speed and reduce dependence on your networks upload speed and avoid data caps. Also use dropbox's public linking system to allow some files to be accessed publicly. Maybe even a series of interfaces and API's to allow some of your files to be connected to secure web sites such as Flickr and Youtube etc.. just get the mind working.

The cache idea seems really important especially when you don't want permanent copies of your content anywhere but on your own hard drives. What do you think?

Container dwellings

I have been looking at container based dwellings for some time now and am just amazed at the ingenuity that is being shown lately.

With a 40 foot container being available for less than $3000 it looks possible to get  a home decked out with IKEA gear for less than 20k. Also with its transportability the requirements of local government can be fairly easily accommodated and you end up with quite a respectable little place.

This looks cool... now if only you had a view out that window... maybe if you could locate it near a good coffee shop.. then you'd have... voila .. a dickmobile!

Prezi, a great way to do presentations

Normally I don't include web findings in the blog but this cool little technology really caught my eye. It's basically an infinate white board that allows you to automate a presentation from one section of the whiteboard to the next... really cool.

Jim's wife will let me help publish memoirs

Jim would have resisted having his memoirs published while he was alive... he wasnt just humble. He was an anti-egotist if there is such a word.

Sadly due to our loss his memoirs can now be published.

There are many people who would love to help Jim's dear wife Rosemary publish his work but I have volunteered to help get it all moving. Many options are popping up... self publishing, a small publisher, but most logical and most suting it would be for ABC books to publish his book... that is my goal working with Jim's family over the next few weeks.

Jim Revitt (1931-2009) remembered in a major newspaper

A wonderful article recognizing my mate Jim Revitt appeared just a few days ago...

Jim will be missed by many more people than he could have imagined... plans are in place to publish his memoirs so please contact me directly if you are interested in getting a copy.

Click photo to see full size.

11 year old reader of Washington Times

With the young ladies permission I have reproduced an interaction between her and I to illustrate the power of a positive story.

------------- Nov 15, 2009 -------------------

Dear Mr. Richardson,

Hi how are you doing on this blessed day? My name is AM. I am an 11 year old and my mommy read to me about you in the newspaper - The Washington Times. My grandfather inspired me to be a surgical doctor and now you inspired me not just to be a doctor but also an entrepreneur.

My question to you is how to be an entrepreneur. I love when a newspaper is talking about you but you are talking about other people, like your wife, the staff at your company and the shareholders. Also what are shareholders? Thank you so much for inspiring me and reading my correspondence.

Your new friend,

AM

------------ Here is my reply -------------

Dear AM,

What a bright and courteous young lady you are. From your letter it sounds like you will be able to do whatever you set your mind to. Your mum must sure be proud of you. I feel very privileged to have influenced you in a small way that your grandfather has already.

Yes I am an entrepreneur but only enough of one to make sure my inventions get used. In my heart I am an inventor. But if you choose to be a surgeon you can also be an entrepreneur and an inventor at the same time.

You could be an entrepreneur by starting a non profit foundation that dedicates one day every two weeks to doing free surgery for someone in need. Or you could use your experience to find new ways of doing surgery, patenting those (which means registering your idea with the government which will help you by not letting other people steal your ideas) and then using your entrepreneur skills to build a company around those inventions.

Artificial hearts and artificial limbs have all been invented by people who are also surgeons.

What are shareholders? Shareholders are people who invest in another persons idea. By putting their money into a company that owns the idea, they get back a SHARE of the profits that company makes in the future. For example if a company has 100 shares and each share is worth 10 dollars each the company would be worth $1000. Then when the company makes money in the future each share gets 1/ 100th of the profit sent to the owner of that share. So if that company made $500 next year and you owned 1 share you would get $5.

If its OK with you id like to put your letter on my blog and only use your initials... is that OK?
Ric

Jim Revitt (1931-2009)

Just moments ago I got off the phone with Jim's oldest boy David who had just told me that Jim had passed away. What a terrible loss. Just a few weeks ago he was singing support for me on the Australian Story Episode "The Big Deal"... and here he is now... gone.

Jim has been battling a string of bad conditions that seemed to be relentlessly ganging up on him over the last few weeks. A failing kidney, pneumonia and then heart problems. I saw him Wed week ago when he was having a real tough time. My heart went out to him and his dear girl Rowe as they battled the distress of severe health damage.

I'm flying to Sydney tomorrow and will try to console my friends loyal family. But I for one will surely miss my old mate Jim.

An evening with the Entrepreneurs Organization: Melbourne Chapter

I just had a great evening with 8 real smart guys from the Melbourne chapter of the Entrepreneurs Organization. They were staying in Byron and had me in to talk shop and ideas. Over 5 hours we discussed everything from focusing on strengths, to automated task management (tazkmachine) for building contractors, to tile based online magazine publishing (zkimmer) and centralization of personal data in custom screen scraping technology. It was great fun and I encourage any of the guys from that group to email me at ric.r@r2labs.com to keep the discussion going. As soon as I get patentmachine going I can hardly wait to get their feedback. Thanks guys for a great time... and BTW my Mrs really enjoyed the bottle of red.
Thx
Ric

ABC Radio Interview MP3

The 15 minute talk-back radio session with Tony Johnston turned into 45 minutes with 6 discussions with listeners ranging from a 16 year old and his Light in an Esky idea to a serious inventor with a filter system for street drains. The MP3 of the interview is here.