Hi everyone,

As the readers of this blog know, I am currently in the process of launching a new company and product, eSCRIBE (http://www.escribecorporate.com/) with my business partner. This is an exciting time, of course, but it is also opening my eyes to some newish technology which is, I believe, entirely disruptive. There is a great deal of interest with eSCRIBE customers in leveraging iPad or Android tablets in place of both laptops and, that favorite old standby, paper.

Let me take a step back. One of my favorite authors, the late great Sir Arthur C. Clarke, was very skilled at introducing concepts which would later come very close to how reality unfolded. He managed to predict, at a very minimum the Communications Satellite, Internet and Skype for free long distance international communication. While he also got a number of things wrong, he also had predictions which now boarder on the realized. One of them which I find intriguing is the soft screen.

Imagine, if you will, a flexible rollup LCD TV which you could deploy anywhere and which can access any and all information available to it. It could have an adhesive or magnetic back which would allow it to be posted on the refrigerator, a wall, in your living room or bedroom - wherever. It would have access to global data networks and have an intelligent user interface. While we don't have this technology yet, we do have something very close to it...

I was smoking some ribs and chicken for a family dinner a couple of weeks back and needed to come up with a recipe for Barbecue Sauce. I did some searching on our family iPad and found an appropriate concoction on the Internet and, propping the device on a small stand next to the stove, I proceeded to make the sauce reading from the iPad and working on the stove. After dinner, I was discussing doing this with the WGG and suddenly I had a "Ah-ha!" moment. Clarke's vision of the soft screen was all there - except for the "soft" part. The screen is big enough to actually easily read, it goes anywhere, you can use it for everything from reading books to accessing the entire body of knowledge of the Internet, it has a highly intuitive user interface and it is relatively affordable. Further, everything you can do with the iPad, you can do with its Android based cousin tablets.

The difference between tablets and smart phones has got to be the screen size - the functionality of the devices beyond that is not really significant. Further, with Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity, next generation tablets will also be able to serve as video and audio communications devices.

So, why do I consider them disruptive technologies? Well, tablets can replace:

• Paper
• Books
• Magazines
• Telephones
• Televisions
• Laptops

They can access and output any kind of audio, video or written material - they are true multimedia devices. With the growth of cloud computing and on line storage, they don't need to have the power of laptops, but that is also coming. Moore's law takes care of both performance and cost and as the technology gets lighter, smaller and perhaps "softer", Sir Arthur might get a further chuckle from the grave in there and those who don't want to give up their paper will end up with a device that is effectively indistinguishable from it in terms of function.

Back again with you soon!

Paul

Onto the next running challenge.

Hi there,

Many years ago my old friend Harvey and I talked about him running the London Marathon for his 50th birthday. From that point on, I developed an interest in Long Distance Running and have now completed eight 1/2 Marathons and numerous 10km and 5 km races. In the next few months I am scheduled to run two further 1/2 Marathons (Burlington Ontario and Prague in the Czech Republic), a 30 km race (Hamilton Ontario) and now, as of yesterday, I am scheduled to run the Ottawa Marathon 3 1/2 months before my 52 birthday. Harvey was a bit ahead of me in terms of schedule but the man, to this day remains a dear friend and inspiration to me and for that reason and that reason alone I want to dedicate my participation in the Ottawa Marathon to him.

So, now for the scary part. To pull this off, I will have to run religiously four to five times a week. My Saturday nights will become as exciting as those for seminarians - no booze, modest food and bed early. Sundays will consist of runs no shorter than 18 km from this week forward. I will not travel over a weekend unless it is race related on on a taper weekend, in which case I will run, but a shorter distance.

Here is my schedule:

March 6 2011: Chili 1/2 Marathon in Burlington
March 27 2011: Around the Bay 30 km in Hamilton (followed by an overnight flight to the Czech Republic
April 2 2011: Prague 1/2 Marathon
May 29 2011: Ottawa Marathon - after this day to be noted as "The Harvey Marathon"

Tonight I formally start Marathon training with the Beaches Running Room Marathon Training Clinic. My body feels ok, no injuries. I do have a persistent cough which seems to stem from speed or hill training so I am going to have to work getting that sorted before too very long.

I must admit to being somewhat scared...

Rather than update you all, starting on Friday of this week, I will relaunch the Paul Mackin Runners Blog which can be linked to from this one.

Wish me well, I would ask for your prayers but there is a big scarlet "A" at the bottom of this blog .

Paul

Sad day in American Journalism

Hi everyone,

My favorite US "Talking Head", Keith Olbermann, has resigned and his signature show Countdown is off the air.




I don't know what to say. I am a huge fan and between the broadcast show and podcasts, this show has fueled my interest in US Politics and kept me sane through travel to some pretty scary places.

Thanks Keith. See you down the road!

Paul

Late night in Nelson...

Hi everyone

I am here in Nelson BC doing yet another, and this is very exciting, eSCRIBE installation for our new company, eSCRIBE Solutions.

Nelson is a lovely place, I have been working during our very limited daylight here and, as a result, I have not had much time for photography - a shame as it is a very beautiful place. I am hoping that my colleague, Andrew, and I will have an hour or two tomorrow for some pictures.

Part of the work I am doing with eSCRIBE, is environmentally related. You can see the details at www.escribecorporate.com but, suffice to say, eSCRIBE is an excellent platform for removing the paper from meetings. In a community like Nelson, this is very appealing but I also believe it to becoming increasingly so world wide. The technology to replace paper has been improving for well over two decades and now with devices like electronic readers and tablets, particularly tablets. Since the WGG and I purchased an iPad, I have managed to almost eliminate my need for paper books and magazines, something I wrote about previously on this blog. To update you on that, since New Years, I have read six books and every edition of The Economist, and not used one page of paper. Barbara and I will only renew our subscription to The Economist if they allow a paper free option. Really, it is a different world.

Well, just a late night blog from Nelson - bed calls!

Paul

2011, 10 days in...

Hi everyone,

Well 2011 seemed to be taking off in a good way and then we got hit with the events of this past weekend in Tuscon, a city that I really love. A terrible shame. I lament the loss of all life at that mall but am heartbroken by the death of that young girl who only wanted to learn how politics work. I can't take particular sides on any aspect of the debate going on down in the states regarding this tragedy but I do have a couple of observations to make.

1. There is a big difference between guns that kill animals and guns that only are designed to kill people. We should think about that more often
2. In North America, we do a very poor job of identifying, managing and treating our mentally ill
3. Yes, the level of dialog between two ideological sides in the US has gotten so caustic as to drive people close to the edge over it. I would encourage our American cousins to take stock and reflect - they are so much better than this

Enough, this is enough to reduce me to tears. Let me switch to a couple of other stories of late.

Let's start with "Dr" Andrew Wakefield. This man, for those of you who may not remember, was primary author of a Lancet article connecting Childhood Autism with the Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccination. That article has now been retracted, Wakefield has lost his license and now, it appears, he may have been guilty of actual fraud rather than bad science. For reference please take a look at the following:
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2011/01/piltdown_medicine_andrew_wakefields_scie.php

A second more fun story I enjoyed, but one with a very serious message hidden in it, is related to Atheism, Tides and the American Right Wing Media. I will turn this over the the ever amusing Keith Olberman:

What is shocking about this is not only the fact that neither people discussing this knew what caused tides but that something which has literally been understood for over 300 years was attributed to God and given the requirement for miraculous intervention. Whatever happened to Scientific Literacy?

Anyway, my first current news blog of the year. I will follow up with something from Canada's North on the weekend.

Be Brave.

Paul

Ten predictions for 2011

Hi everyone, Happy New Year!

As promised, here are my top ten predictions for 2011. I will review them again at years end to determine how wrong or right I was.


10. It is widely reported that Robert Gates will step down as Secretary of Defense. While she loves her current job, Hillary Clinton will succeed Robert Gates as US Secretary of Defense.

9. Israel will declare a further moratorium new settlements after pressure from the US in a successful effort to get a peace deal with the Palestinian Government. This will be painful for the current government but I do believe they can make it work and collectively the US and Israel can use this to pressure some movement in Iran on the nuclear front.

8. The government of Pakistan will fall after yet another military coup - this new government will have tacit and very quiet political support from the US and will be used to really clean up the boarder region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The new government will also purge the Pakistani Intelligence service of Taliban supporters

7. I may be a liberal but I see no way to avoid this - Premier Dalton McGuinty will lose the Provencal election to Conservative Tim Hudak

6. Barack Obama will have Congressional support in crafting a joint austerity plan which will include both entitlement reductions and tax reform. Elements will include:
- Phased increases to the retirement age
- The beginnings of a federal consumption tax

5. The commercialization of space will continue with:
- A suborbital flight by the VSS (Virgin Space Ship) Enterprise
- Cargo delivery to the ISS by a Space-X Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon 9

4. Everyone's Grizzly Bear of Little Brain, 1/2 Governor Sarah Palin, will not seek the US presidency

3. Goodluck Jonathan will win the election as Nigerian President but the PDP will be split in the process and Nigerian religious differences will begin to increase rendering the country less governable2.

2. Canadian Federal election resulting in coalition government by the Liberals and NDP, quietly supported by the Bloc. Stephen Harper will resign as Conservative Leader.

1. North Korean leader Kim Jong Il will die or become incapacitated, bringing the situation on the peninsula to a head. Outcome is uncertain but I suspect China may have made up its mind it can live with a southern lead Unified Korea on its boarder in exchange for some security guarantees from the west.

We will compare notes again before 2012!!


Paul