TapToTalk-Augmentative And Alternative Communication

Through my work on the board of directors of AchieveKids, a non-profit that runs schools for the most behaviorally challenged autistic and developmentally disabled kids, I saw a need for a sturdy, economical, portable communications device that helps non-verbal children communicate. This led to me un-retiring and starting a company, Assistyx, and then developing TapToTalk (www.taptotalk.com).

TapToTalk is a new product that gives a non-verbal child a voice with the tap of a picture. It turns a handheld Nintendo DSi or DS Lite into an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device.

If you know anyone who works with kids with speech problems regardless of cause--autism, developmental disability, mental retardation, Down syndrome, and many diseases--please let them know about TapToTalk. And, of course, we want to let families of these kids know about this option.

I’ve started a number of companies over the years; this is the one that is a labor of love.

Registrar on Wikipedia

Dave Atkins, a Registrar pioneer at British Telecom in the late '80s, has started a Wikipedia entry for Registrar. Please take a look and make any additions or corrections you wish. Also, please let others who may have Registrar lore know about this, so they too can contribute.

IE8 Sure Ain't Great

I must be watching too many NCAA tournament games, because the title of this post has the rhythm of a basketball cheer.

After my last post, urging Microsoft to make IE8 the last release of Internet Explorer, the Softies announced that in Windows 7, you will be able to remove Internet Explorer and replace it with another browser. This is significant because they have long maintained that removing IE from Windows was impossible, even in the face of the wrath of the EU. This capability means that it would be pretty easy for Microsoft to take the next step I suggested, and make Firefox the successor to IE8.

I had suggested putting IE out to pasture for strategic reasons. But after using IE8 for a couple of months, I am now adding practical reasons. Internet Explorer 8 is a dog. It is painfully slow to load, and then it seems sluggish performing most browsing functions.

I admit to being spoiled by Google's Chrome, which has earned itself the role as my default browser because of its crisp performance and intelligent use of screen space. Chrome gives the real estate to the web page, not to itself. Since it is the new kid on the block, I do occasionally run into websites that don't work with Chrome. Then I switch to Firefox or Internet Explorer.

I could expound on my disappointments with IE8 in detail, but to what point? It is my least favorite browser. Besides, I only want one. I'd be happy with Firefox or Chrome.

Steve Ballmer, are you listening? Cut your loses, free your resources for more profitable use, and announce the retirement of Internet Explorer. Put it in the Microsoft hall of fame, right next to Encarta.

Dear Steve Ballmer: Adopt Firefox

Dear Steve,

I guess you must have missed my January 8 post, so I'll give it another try.

The market pundits have been critical of your efforts to cut costs in the face of the recession. So here I offer a simple solution: announce that IE8 will be the last release of Internet Explorer. Announce that as of Windows 8 (yes, the successor to the in-process Windows 7), Firefox will be the preferred Windows browser.

It will be easy to do this. Do not include a browser with Windows 8. Add a one-click control to the Windows interface that says "Select Web Browser." Pop up a list that includes Chrome and Opera with Firefox at the top as the default. When clicked, it takes you to the install page for the chosen browser on the web.

Now, before you get all revved up with your "we can't separate the browser from the OS" spiel, we techies know better. True, there is a set of internet services that are needed inside Windows so that certain APIs work. Supply these core capabilities in a minimalist way. But no full-fledged browser. Trust me, your engineers can do this.

Why Firefox? Because Google is too much of a competitor and Opera is, well, flaky. And there is something delicious about the notion of Microsoft adopting the progeny of Netscape. Oh, and Firefox is real good and widely used already.

Now I know you may still think there is some sort of competitive issue about "owning the browser." Nonsense. The original Netscape threat was actually twofold. First, the only way Microsoft was going to "get" the internet was to build its own browser and engage in the browser war. Face it, you guys were bumping into walls trying to figure the internet out or make it go away. The browser war brought you kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

The second issue, the real strategic threat, was the traction Netscape server products were getting, just as Windows servers were taking off. Sure, Netscape over-promised and under-delivered. But that could have changed. The browser war was a perfect example of a Crown Jewels Attack. As spelled out in my book Attacking The Crown Jewels, this defensive strategy is to attack a product core to the enemy's strategy, one that it must expend resources defending at all costs. This pulls resources away form the enemy's product that threatens your strategy. You did this. You attacked Netscape's browser, pulling resources away for their nascent server product line. This stamped out the threat to Windows servers. It was beautifully done, even if you were not intentionally doing it.

Think of the savings! All of the engineering, marketing, and support resources that Internet Explorer consumes would be available for redeployment or release. The European Union would lose one of its treasured reasons for MS-whipping. Legal savings alone would be substantial.

In fond anticipation, I say, you're welcome.

Adventures In Kindleland

I wanted to create a Kindle edition of my new novel, Opium. I had success, but it was not a task for anyone but a techie.

I figured this would be easy. I had text only, no images, no tables. I had a Microsoft Word document with just three styles (chapter heading, normal indented paragraph, normal non-indented paragraph). The Amazon Kindle Digital Text Platform was easy enough to use. I followed the steps to enter information about the novel. Then I got to the step to convert my book to Kindle format. And the fun began.

Kindle uses it own proprietary file format that works with a subset of HTML. But they have a program to convert Word files. So I uploaded my Word doc. Moments later, I was given a link to preview my converted Kindle book as it would look on a Kindle.

It was ugly. It had not picked up my paragraph formats. It had not handled a number of characters, including accented letters, the copyright symbol, and single quotes. And there were other cosmetic problems.

After trying a number of suggested approaches to fixing these issues that did not work, I finally bit the bullet and downloaded the converted HTML from the Kindle site. Then I fired up my trusty text editor and went to work on the HTML file.

Looking at the HTML, it was pretty easy to see what was wrong. So I went to work, correcting the styles, replacing symbols with HTML entities, and making other minor edits. In about an hour, I thought I had it in good shape, so I uploaded the HTML to the Kindle site. I previewed once more, spotted a few more minor issues, did one more editing pass on the HTML, and uploaded again.

I took careful notes of the steps I had taken, so I could do it again in the future more easily.

I was miffed that I had to scan through the whole book looking for glitches, not easy with a full length novel.

I was miffed that the Word doc conversion program had not handled the items I had to hand edit. Amazon's programmers could easily fix these things, which must be common problems.

Now I understand why there is an emerging cottage industry of outfits that will convert your book to Kindle format.

Now my novel is available in a Kindle edition. And I have already heard form several of my friends who ordered it for their Kindles. My small sample found more Kindle users than I would have expected, though I admit that many of my friends trend towards the techie end of the spectrum, and are early adopters of new tech gadgets.