As another Memorial Day comes to a close, my thoughts and prayers are with all the families whose loved ones are serving for peace and freedom and for making this world a better and safer place. And for all the brave souls who gave their lives so we may live a better one, I salute you.

As reported in the wsj, a new video display has been developed by Sony. It is full color, thin and bends like paper.

.03 millimeter or .001 inch thick.

What kind of applications do you think are possible now?

According to Stephen Farthing, instructor at the Univ. of Arts in London, (reported in the wsj) the average time a gallery visitor spends in front of a painting is no more than two or three seconds.

As I so often speak about when delivering my speeches, the majority of web visitors spend only few seconds on your home page. These visitors would only spend more time if you successfully and quickly grabbed their attention with points of interest and valuable content and products.

Read my current month article: “Is this your site I’ve just seen driving by?
Why most web sites reject their visitors”

According to the WSJ, it is Online news. And according to Nielsen/Net Rating April 2007 top unique visitors:

MSNBC.com = 33.14 Million

Yahoo.com = 33.12 Million

CNN.com = 27.9 Million

It is the affiliated Internet portals that send visitors to these sites and give them their current edge.

The WSJ has just reported a reduction in software piracy in China. Of all estimated software used in China in 2006, 82% was pirated vs. 86% the year before.

Running my software development firm for the past 20 years, this is a huge ethical and economical issue which I hope is resolved expeditiously.

The Wall Street Journal published yesterday a terrific interview with George David, The CEO of United Technologies. Below are several quotes made by him that I found fascinating:

“What goes on in a big sailboat is a combination of preparation, organization, design, strategy, tactics, rules, teamwork, individual performance and group performance … When you drop a new crew person in, every now and then you may get an elbow in the face. It’s because you and that person don’t know how you’re going to move relative to one another. That’s the same thing in the business; you don’t want an elbow in the face.”

“You can’t walk through life with a trained eye and not see the opportunities for productivity (sitting in traffic, forms at the doctor, waiting for things) ... Just look at the difference in personal productivity between people, educated versus not educated. Or people in good, really productive labor environments, versus people who are kind of struggling because they’re in disorganized or ineffective companies … There’s a part of the world that doesn’t believe in the rights of women. Why on earth would you live in a society where half the people are deemed to be nonproductive?”

“Education is definitely the most powerful force in life. Educated people are more thoughtful. They’re more widely read. They’re more alert to change. They’re more confident.”

I have just returned from Rhode Island where I deliver my speech (for the fifth time) to Alan Weiss’s Million Dollar Consulting™ College. Alan Weiss, PhD. who conducts the college, attracts the best and smartest of the consulting minds in the world, and I just love returning and presenting to this group.
In this presentation I focused on how to leverage your web site to establish credibility and and the importance of an effective home page and how to create one.

We are proud to announce the launch of www.ContrarianConsulting.com – the brand new blog we designed and implemented for international consultant, speaker and author Alan Weiss. The mission of Alan’s blog is to provide alternative views to consulting’s “conventional wisdom” so that consultants can provide increasing value and derive increasing business.

While in Naples, Florida last week, I took some pictures of the beautiful sunset. Click on each picture to enlarge:

My good friend and colleague, Dan Coughlin, has just published his new book, Accelerate: “20 Practical Lessons to Boost Business Momentum”, which is now available in all major book stores. Dan has also been our featured guest contributor for our April Newsletter: