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Atlanta native, academic capitalist, technology professional, spaceflight amateur. Stephen Fleming's blog is at home at http://academicvc.blogspot.com/
November 2008
Thursday November 20, 2008
Posted by: Stephen Fleming at 3:57PM EST on November 20, 2008
 We held the third running of the Gauntlet last night. As a heads-up, the December Gauntlet will be a little earlier... 4:30 pm. Here's why. We've held three events so far, and the winners have been: September:Winner: Divvs Runner-up: Simatra October:Winner: 40billion.com Runner-up: Neighborex November:Winner: Jumbis Runner-up: Telanon In December, we'll convene a fourth Gauntlet at 4:30 pm on December 17th, with a hard stop at 6:00 pm. We'll pick another winner and runner-up. Those two CEOs, plus the CEOs of the six companies listed above, will convene at 6:30 for a second event. As usual, they'll each give three-minute pitches (with or without slides). But instead of your sometimes-rude dungeonmasters, this one will be judged by members of the TAG Top 40 committee. The winner will get a slot as one of the Top 40 companies, as well an invitation to audition for one of the Top 10 slots to present at the Georgia Technology Summit next March. And this event is open to the public. Unlike the regular Gauntlets, where you have to be prepared to pitch to get in the door, the 6:30 event will be open to everyone. Come see the eight companies battle it out for the Top 40 slot. Listen to the judges' feedback on the presentations. And get a chance to see some of the hottest new companies in Atlanta! Sign up to present at the Startup Gauntlet web site. If you're not presenting, just show up; no RSVP required. And, as a reminder, winners of the October, November, December, and January Gauntlets get an invitation to present at Startup Riot as well... Friday November 7, 2008
Posted by: Stephen Fleming at 8:24AM EST on November 7, 2008
 Alright, I'm actively courting codgerhood here, but I don't like rap. Or hip-hop. Or whatever else the young whippersnappers call "music." But I just spent ten bucks on a rap CD (well, partially rap), and I love it! If you've been to a Georgia Tech football game this season, you've seen the music video for "A Perfect Option" up on the big screen. That's the second video by a pair of recent GT graduates who call themselves The GTGs (after their campus email addresses); the first was "Take the M-Train." (Which I have seen seriously discussed by Gary Schuster, and which took up a good chunk of the College of Engineering advisory board last spring!) I may not be the biggest fan of their musical style, but the kids are undeniably talented. (Listen to some of the other tracks on "Look to your Left, Look to your Right" and you'll see that they really do display some musical ability!) But the point of this album isn't the music quality, it's the lyrics. Anybody who has ever been a Tech student, or known a Tech student (or married a Tech student!), will understand The Ratio: Sir, if you got a daughter And "Take the M-Train" raises valid points about engineering students switching to management: Why would ya take the harder route when there's an easy way? Now, the GTGs have published a CD, containing these and other songs, two of the videos, and some hysterical phone calls for George P. Burdell. If you were ever a Tech student, you'll understand why I almost drove off the road laughing at Track 4! They position themselves as "Music for the Georgia Tech Community," and that's exactly right. Talent and audacity like this should be encouraged. Go ahead, spend ten bucks on their CD. Buy a second copy at a stocking stuffer for a GT person in your life. You'll be glad you did!
Thursday November 6, 2008
Posted by: Stephen Fleming at 5:57PM EST on November 6, 2008
 I had a hardware problem with my MacBook Pro today. Apple delivered a model of stellar customer service. I figured the least I could do in return was write about it. My three-week-old laptop woke up dead today. I Googled the symptoms on another computer, performed some tests, and convinced myself it was a hardware problem. (It's almost never a hardware problem. According to Pournelle's Law, it's usually a cable. If it's not a cable, it's something you did to the software. Bugs, viruses, and hardware problems are way down on the list of likely culprits.) A hardware problem meant calling AppleCare, or visiting an Apple Store in person. I don't think Genius Bars replace logic boards, but I figured it was better to hand my laptop to an Apple employee than to rely on UPS/Airborne/whatever, since our building has had problems with package delivery in the past. I called the Apple Store at Lenox around 10:30 am. Their first Genius Bar appointment was 7:00 pm tomorrow. When I sounded disappointed, the woman who answered the phone volunteered to check the Perimeter store, and found a 3:45 appointment today. First example of excellent customer service: she didn't have to do that, but it made my life better. I got to the Perimeter store a little early. Friendly T-shirted employee greeted me, sent me to the Genius Bar maitre d', he explained they were running right on time, and asked me to wait until 3:45. At 3:45, he came over and introduced me to Brendan behind the counter. I had had a few minutes to think over what I'd say to Brendan, so I dove in: Laptop wouldn't boot this morning, wouldn't pass POST, got three long beeps. Googled that, and it means bad RAM. Popped the case, started swapping RAM modules. It runs fine with the bottom slot empty and either module in the top slot. It fails POST with either module in the bottom slot. Sounds like a logic board problem to me. I figure it's gotta go back? That took thirty seconds. Brendan's immediate reaction was: "Hmm. It shouldn't do that. We can send it back... but is this a custom build-to-order? If not, we can see if we have a laptop like this one in stock." No dithering, no "let me go check with my manager," no "expediting fee," just trying to figure out the best thing to do for me. Wow. This is really above and beyond the call of duty, and I didn't expect it. Turns out they had an identical unit in stock (one argument against buying BTO). He hauled it out, broke the seals, popped out the factory hard disk (which required removing only one screw!), popped in my non-standard Samsung 500 GB, closed it back up, and handed it to me. He spent more time doing the paperwork than the hard disk swap. I was out the door smiling at 4:06 pm. Elapsed time, 21 minutes. I don't think you can do that with a Dell. Let's do the math. At 3:47 pm, there were two machines in Apple's store. One was broken, the other one was going to get sold to someone else for full retail. Apple was obligated to fix my broken one under warranty, but they were perfectly within their rights to ask me to ship it back to a repair depot, leaving me without a laptop over the weekend (at least). And I'd likely have had to drive out to Perimeter again to pick up the repaired unit sometime next week; that's most of an hour round-trip. But my time and inconvenience are not a tangible cost for them. This approach would leave them with the untouched new machine on the shelf, ready to be sold for $2499. But Brendan instantly decided to swap machines with me. I walked out with the new one, and Apple gets my old one back. They'll repair it and sell it as a refurbished unit online for (I suspect) $2299. So, choosing to delight me as a customer incurred a real cost for them of $200. Is Apple hardware overpriced? What's your time worth? Tuesday November 4, 2008
Posted by: Stephen Fleming at 11:49AM EST on November 4, 2008
Personally, I'm a fan of the "One man, one vote" philosophy as embodied by Lord Havelock Vetinari... he is the Man, he has the Vote. I want that job! Short of that, it's Election Day, and ballots get long and complicated. Here are my simple rules to figure out how to vote once you make it to the polling place:
But there are zillion other races on the ballot. You can drastically simplify your choices now:
There! Franchise exercised, you can exit the polls and enjoy your felonious Starbucks and Krispy Kreme!
Posted by: Stephen Fleming at 9:30AM EST on November 4, 2008
 Announcing a new innovation competition for undergraduates at Georgia Tech! After a lot of work behind the scenes, Georgia Tech is finally ready to announce the InVenture Prize! It's aimed at undergraduates (only), independently or in teams. Read more about it at http://inventureprize.gatech.edu/. VentureLab is proud to be one of the sponsors of the InVenture Prize. In addition to cash prizes, the winning team will be automatically accepted into VentureLab for commercialization assistance. Georgia Tech OTL will also help pay for patent filings, if needed. The deadline for "intent to compete" is November 14th, so sign up now! Sunday November 2, 2008
Posted by: Stephen Fleming at 10:35PM EST on November 2, 2008
 Spent a gorgeous fall day driving, eating, hiking, and shopping at Serenbe. I had planned to come home and write a blog post about it, but it turns out Angus beat me to the punch months ago: http://blog.angusmcrae.com/?p=43. Not a place I'd choose to live (I'm a city boy), but it's nice to know it's available, only forty minutes from my driveway. More pictures here: http://photos.stephenandcecilia.com/gallery/6445439_ADE22 |
