A matter of context

One of my last posts focused on the Livescribe pen and the challenges it faces when compared with pen and paper. To compare two things requires context. Is the Livescribe's context pen and paper?

If you are looking for a way to digitally capture notes, Livescribe is by far the best solution I've seen. I've tried Wacom tablets, Cross digital pens, last generation tablet computers (need to try a Win7 tablet with OneNote), scanners of all types, the Anoto pen, and most other solutions that entered the market in the last few years. Livescribe is the best solution I've found to date. And I don't even use the audio recording features, third party apps, or cloud based note distribution that separate Livescribe from previous offerings.

I just compared the Livescribe to other digital solutions that attempt to capture handwritten notes. In that context, Livescribe is the best product I've ever used. The interesting words used to describe the context are digital and handwritten. In the digital context, Livescribe is second to none. In the handwritten context, Livescribe competes against an incredibly inexpensive, flexible, and intuitive solution.

Livescribe faces an interesting challenge because over time it has to win in both contexts. While it has to best other digital solutions, it does this to earn the right to try and displace pen and paper from your personal productivity arsenal. For me personally, it won the first battle, digital, handily, but after an extended period using the product, I struggle with the limitations imposed by a battery. Whether it by the normal and expected degradation of battery life in a CE device, or my inability to remember to charge the pen after a day of meetings (which I'm pretty sure is a normal human trait), I too often find myself with a digital capture device that can't capture digitally for the lack of a few electrons.

I wrote the first post more as a reflection as a CE developer on how hard it was to compete with pen and paper. Livescribe is not alone in this quest to augment or replace pen and paper, but I focused on it because it was the first digital product to earn a long term place in my personal productivity arsenal. No digital product I've seen has sufficiently dealt with the recall problem, yet, but I'm hopeful that too shall soon fall. But pen and paper will not fall easily. The fact that they are not digital and are not tied to a battery makes them powerful tools that are very, very hard to replace. It seems that vertical markets, e.g. students, medicine, form based enterprises, etc., might be the first places pen and paper are displaced, but for the knowledge professional, it might be some time before this happens. It's all a matter of context.

Inertial energy, when will you get here?! Not soon enough.

Pride in workmanship

To me this is pride in workmanship, taking a craft to the next level, being the best at what you do. This is inspiration.

When your pen can't hold a charge

Pen and paper. I've spent years looking for and trying to create a better solution. As a consumer electronics developer, I've realized that replacing pen and paper might be the most difficult job we'll ever tackle. Why?

1. Unlimited flexibility. Whatever you want to capture, whenever, in whatever format is best for you, pen and paper do it. "It's a blank sheet of paper" is a powerful statement
2. High durability
3. Very low cost. Pens are nearly free (if you travel) and paper is incredibly inexpensive
4. Wonderful form factor. Whatever form factor you like, paper comes in that form factor. You can even make your own custom form factors

The biggest challenge facing pen and paper is recall. I used to have a cluster of engineering notebooks filled with notes going back almost 20 years. I often ran into situations where I knew the answer to a question was in one of those books. Which one and where? Heck of I know. I digitized those books, but the recall problem was nowhere closer to being solved.

18 months ago, I was so excited to get a Livescribe pen. This digital pen, running Java no less, automatically digitized everything I wrote. With appropriate tagging, I could even make recall easier in these digitized notes. Livescribe also stores audio recorded when I took the notes, though this feature was less useful in business meetings where audio recording is often discouraged.

Livescribe does everything that it advertises, but now my pen doesn't hold a charge. Let me repeat this. My pen isn't holding a charge. What's wrong with that sentence? Nothing, until you compare it to the competition. Livescribe failed to compete with pen and paper's features, as listed above:

1. Unlimited flexibility - Livescribe figured this out, with a variety of notebook form factors and the ability to print your own paper
2. High durability - Paper being equal between the two, a standard pen is far more durable, lasts longer, doesn't run out of battery life (temporarily or permanently)
3. Very low cost - I thought I lost my Livescribe on an overseas flight, and realized that losing $200 pens wasn't a habit I could afford to sustain
4. Wonderful form factor - A pen with a battery, no matter how well engineered, is going to have a larger form factor than a standard pen

I think Livescribe is a great product. If you share notes, it is a fabulous product. But it competes with a product of near infinite flexibility and very low cost. As my Livescribe's life comes to an end, I'll be replacing it with a Fischer space pen and Moleskin notebook. In the end, I'll trade real time digitizing for a $170 price break, infinite battery life, and the peace of mind that comes from not being worried about losing my pen, which I'm apt to do.

Of course, as a CE developer, I've been pondering automatic watches and wondering why Livescribe even needs a battery. It only needs power when you are writing, and when you are writing, then pen is in motion?! Hope springs eternal ;-)

The pen is truly mightier than the sword (and Livescribe?)

The value of creative sabbaticals

I'm a huge fan of the work sabbatical. Both Apple and Palm offered them when I worked there, and I got within months of exercising sabbaticals at both before I left for new opportunities. A fact in itself which might argue that sabbaticals have to be offered earlier in an employee's life cycle ;-)

Gina Trapini has a great article on creative sabbaticals, which I found from her Twitter feed. Embedded in that article is a TED video about creative sabbaticals which I found inspiring.

One day I'll take a sabbatical!

Redefining touch-enabled desktops?

R. Clayton Miller has come up with some interesting paradigms around desktop centric touch enablement.

10/GUI from C. Miller on Vimeo.

Amazing use of Microsoft Surface

I love this demonstration of D&D on a Microsoft Surface.

Surfacescapes Demo Walkthrough from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.

The project was done at CMU. Why doesn't that surprise me?!

Ray Kurzweil interview

Thought provoking interview with Ray Kurzweil, one of the most interesting people in technology. Posted on a new Dell web site.

Chris Rock states the obvious about Roman Polanski

Hollywood's reaction to the Roman Polanski situation baffles me. Chris Rock's discussion on this summarizes my view precisely!

If it was your kid, would you want Roman Polanski enjoying his coffee in France after what he did to you?!

Branching my secret identity

I enjoy a fulfilling business life. I have a great role at Sun helping make Java a preeminent platform for innovation. I've enjoyed success before Sun, interacting with folks way smarter than I am while building insanely cool consumer products we are all very proud of.

Along this journey I realized, like many before me, that I had accumulated two assets I could use to help other entrepreneurs; resources and expertise. A few years ago I used those assets as a private investor to help a startup, Shelfari, take off. Interacting with Shelfari as it grew was a tremendous experience. I realized that the risk and role of advisor and angel investor was something I thoroughly enjoyed, building from my previous experience starting companies myself.

I continued this effort more formally by creating a small venture firm, Klein Venture Partners (KVP). We've made a few subsequent investments and advise a small cluster of consumer focused startups. The companies are carefully chosen to be insanely good, non-competitive with Sun, and aligned with KVP's areas of expertise. It's as much a labor of love as an investment. The real joy is working with startups from the day they are created, watching and advising the climb from zero to a million plus users.

I'm in the process of setting up KVP's web site, and tweet about KVP progress relatively frequently. For folks who know me personally or through my work with Java, the KVP tweets were confusing, especially without context. I realized it's best to further separate the two discrete threads of my business life. So I'm doubling down on my Twitter investment. For commentary on all things Java, technology, and me, I'll continue via the Twitter username sircoolio. I've created a new Twitter address, kleinvp, that focuses on venture capital, angel investing, startups, and Klein Venture Partner announcements and progress.

The path of every angel investor starts with a single investment. I've enjoyed the first steps along the path, and have no idea where it will eventually lead. I do know it makes me happy helping small startups grow, and I know the effort helps me be a better manager and contributor at Sun. So I'll keep both parts of my business life well fed and see where the road leads.

If you know of any great startups focused on media, entertainment, mobile, or consumer, let me know! If you don't have my contact information, reach out to me via LinkedIn.

Company values

I've been thinking about why companies, teams, and projects succeed and fail. Whether it is a large corporation or a new startup, it's about the idea, the team, and the execution. The corporate entity is wrapped around these core elements, and the wrapper must enable success. A friend sent me the Netflix corporate values , and I think they are an excellent example of how the company's values can drive success.

It's a long read, but a great one for any senior manager or aspiring entrepreneur.