Summary: Bill Gates now has a website that offers his thoughts on a variety of issues.

Yesterday Bill Gates launched a website called The Gates Notes (and joined Twitter a short while before).  Some people have said that this is an opportunity to share the mind of the richest man in the world but I might suggest that it should inspire us in our own lives.

The site is sort of a spawn of his yearly letter where he outlines what he is thinking and doing within the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

I offer the Welcome Letter below where you can see how he introduces the site.

The topics you'll find include:

• Conversations he's having (with some heavy hitters of course)
• Things he's thinking about (Innovation, Energy/Sustainablity, Pandemics, Haiti)
• What he's learning (he continues to take courses and read - Super Freakonomics and The Teaching Company)
• Where he's traveling and what he's seeing (India)
• The "Curious Classroom" where he engages with students and answers questions.

Look, Bill's not the end-all-be-all but he is clearly a force in the world.  His software created immense value and innovation and his Foundation is doing amazing things (more than most governments).

It does trouble me some that when we ask kids in America who their favorite people are they say Taylor Swift or Tom Brady, and in India and China they say Bill Gates.   Nothing wrong with being inspired by a singer or a football player.  They both have the power to make us be our best or provide great entertainment.  What I am saying is we should also look to great minds as well. 

Here are my takeaways:

1. If you didn't already know it, Bill is a lot more, and cares for a great deal more than computers.
2. The guy makes learning his life.  He continues to embrace the idea that we should constantly learn, especially outside of our career disciplines.
3. Take time to think.  From what I understand Bill periodically spends a week just reading and thinking.  Adopting a form of this practice could be very beneficial though of course challenging to pull off at this level.
4. Microsoft has done mostly 'incremental' improvements since Bill left.  We see this in other companies where the founder has left.  This is where all the energy is going (not to the website but to what the website talks about).

Summary:  The Google nexus one has made T-Mobile relevant.

From the day I bought my first cell phone I considered many different carriers but never T-Mobile.  Over the years I've stuck with Verizon but I've definitely considered ATT and Sprint at various times.  NEVER T-Mobile...that is until yesterday.

I am truly impressed with the nexus one.  My colleague ordered one within hours of the release and it arrived yesterday.   The integration, camera, screen, apps, SPEED and littany of other features make it truly smart.   It is a phone that really gets it.  Google paid attention to detail (they had the right team for the job) and came out in style with their first piece of consumer hardware.

I won't use the term "iPhone killer" because the market hasn't nearly reached saturation.  There is plenty of room and plenty of time and with 1 year contracts nothing will die overnight.  You may think you see a lot of smartphones out there but in reality most people still have a phone that takes pictures and sends text messages at best.

So for today I say, T-Mobile, you have my attention...that is until March when Verizon gets the phone...

Summary:  New videoconferencing units may make it reasonable for Mom and Dad.

To be honest, I've never been a big proponent of videoconferencing.  Largely the reason was the technology was spotty or expensive and in either case made the proposition have rather low value.

That said, some new video conferencing phones leveraging the power of Skype have me rethinking the viability. 

Take this Asus Skype phone as you can see below.  Very few buttons, rather bulletproof technology and reasonable costs ($200).

If you have a computer and camera, you are good to go on your end.

If you have thought this concept a good idea but weren't quite sure how to excecute, I'd encourage you to give this a shot.  If you do, let me know, I'll do the same.

Summary:  Top new walkie talkies offer 30+ miles of range.

Of course the range listed on these radios is more than you will actually get but even 2-5 miles of good range of communication is a big deal.

Even 5 years ago getting a radio with good distance was pretty difficult however radios of today, for less than $100, enable solid communication.

The most recent Field and Stream tested a few and I offer the link to the reviews below.

It seemed to me that the Motorola pair for $90 was the best bet.

Here is a link to the other reviews:

http://www.fieldandstream.com/gear/20705

Summary:  My six reasons for caring about social media.

Yesterday I attended the Inbound Marketing Summit 09.  If you Twitter, you can follow this throught the hash tag #ims09.  For those of you not familiar with hash tags, they are simply short unique character sequences that start with the # symbol.  These get included in your tweet.  In doing so, you can use Twitter itself or a number of third party apps (I use TweetDeck) to follow what everyone is saying abou that particular thing. Try it and you'll 'get it" in about 10 seconds.

Back to social media as that was the topic of focus yesterday.  A lot was said though not much revolutionary.  For the most part the speakers were entertaining but the cornerstone of the event for me was two conversations about "how can I get my company/boss to care about SM?"

Here is my rationale and you'll see it includes things that sometimes don't get talked about.

SALES - You can sell more product of you provide ways to get your loyal customers to promote for you and conversely you can keep an eye on what might be hindering your sales by observing what customers say.

MARKETING - It is a heck of a lot less expensive than traditional marketing and PR and people listen to it more than a traditional ad or commercial.

INNOVATION - You can engage your customers by the dozens or by the thousands and have them help you innovate.

BRAND - If you care about your brand and you aren't watching what people say about it you are likely missing the truth.  Surveys don't work.  They aren't as real as what people say at moments they actually "feel" something.  Further, those that respond are more likely the customers that like you already.

RELATIONSHIPS - You can forge stronger relationships with social media.  If this is a goal of your company then SM is the place to do it.  Until they come out with a brain chip, I know of no better avenue for doing this.

EFFICIENCY - I'd argue you can bring a measureable amount of business efficiency by implementing a good SM strategy.  You may be able to reduce you support center headcount if customers are engaging with each other and answering their own questions.  You may be able have fewer people in R&D because your customers are helping you innovate.

Everything here will improve your bottom line and makes for justification of the investment.  You need a strategy (not a tactic) and some clear definitions of success but like the opening speaker yesterday said, JUST CARE ABOUT YOUR CUSTOMERS and the rest will fall into place.

Summary:  "National Parks - America's Best Idea" on PBS

For those of you not familiar with Ken Burns, you have probably at least flipped past a channel when one of his documentaries was playing.  His two most well know documentaries are on The Civil War and Baseball (he also did one call The War on WWII).  You can read more about him on Wikipedia.

He has now released "National Parks - America's Best Idea" and I've caught it the past two nights on PBS.  Like many PBS shows there are no commercials and the imagery draws you in.

Last night the series focused on Stephen Mather, a wealthy businessman who used his personal fortune and genius for promotion to create a National Park Service.  He organized, cajoled, wrote personal checks, and did many things to make the NPS what it is today.

Post college graduation I did a x-country trip with two roommates and had the good fortune able to see a number of the parks.  If you haven't been to many of the National Parks, definitely put them on your radar for future travel.  They have that status for a reason and make a compelling to put them right up there with what might be considered more exotic trips.

Summary: The Nintendo DS is not only fun but makes you think.

So you have probably seen countless kids messing around with these two screened video game consoles.

Here is my pitch that they are for adults too.

1. Every adult was once a kid and should like having fun
2. They are a small excape on the plane or when you have downtime on a project and you are traveling
3. The games they are producing make you think - really!

The newest version is around $130, is small and light and has pretty good battery life.

If you really need to 'justify' it, here are two games that are good for your brain:

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Brain Age

The second one listed has actually gotten a lot of press about helping give your brain exercises to keep it functioning at a high level.