Lichtman Consulting - Latest Comments

Re: 3D Printing Large Items

jeremylichtman — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:42:06 -0000

Objective is to keep it cheap. I'm thinking along the lines of a very simple conveyor belt.

Re: 3D Printing Large Items

sol — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 12:13:06 -0000

Well then... I guess maybe you need to mount the printing components on a mobile platform (maybe even with a robotic arm or something), on a very smooth and even floor. Hmm... maybe get several of them and a central server that can control them all as they run around the floor spewing out plastic to make all sorts of objects.

Re: 3D Printing Large Items

jeremylichtman — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:49:18 -0000

Not necessarily. A big printer takes up lots of room. I've seen high-end ones advertised that can print out objects of several feet in each dimension, but you'd need a factory floor to put it on.

Re: 3D Printing Large Items

sol — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:39:34 -0000

Damn... it screwed up the name I posted as.

Re: 3D Printing Large Items

Asdfasdfsadf — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 10:39:12 -0000

I suppose the ideal situation would be to give your object printer the ability to print a new and larger support structure for itself.

Re: What will cellphones look like in 5 years time?

jeremylichtman — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:37:55 -0000

Google Glass is likely to run on Android.

I suspect we'll see some new OS'es, in addition to the existing / upcoming ones. There will likely be one or two more (probably futile) attempts to build "dumb phones" using something along the lines of Symbian, at least one new open source system, a few more attempts to get Linux running on phones etc etc.

Re: What will cellphones look like in 5 years time?

jeremylichtman — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:59:25 -0000

I believe that Android falls in the category of pushing functionality into the cloud.

I don't believe it is going away.

I suspect that (like Linux) its true significance will be seen further out though - possibly ten year's time - and will depend on whether consumers ultimately prefer their computing to happen locally or via the browser.

Re: What will cellphones look like in 5 years time?

Matthew Dubins — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 10:49:30 -0000

Jeremy, I'm surprised your future doesn't seem to include Android. Tell me what happens to the near ubiquitous mobile operating system in 5 years :P

Edit: I just realized you did mention google glass... Is that android powered or did they make a new OS for the new tech?

Re: Yahoo should merge with RIM

jeremylichtman — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:46:37 -0000

I might be mistaken, or things might have changed. At the time, Yahoo! was listed in the news as one of the "and others" in the consortium.

Re: Yahoo should merge with RIM

oth — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 11:16:31 -0000

Just curious why you say Yahoo was part of the consortium that bought Nortel's patents. Wikipedia says:
Apple, EMC, Ericsson, Microsoft, Research In Motion, and Sony

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

jeremylichtman — Mon, 28 May 2012 22:16:46 -0000

I don't have any pull there either, but I can pass your comments along to some former employees who might still have contact there...

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

oth — Sat, 26 May 2012 14:49:17 -0000

Has Yahoo! given up on Groups? – this is the million $ question.

The Yahoo! Groups blog has had its last entry back on October 3, 2011 – does it mean a thing at a company such as Yahoo!? The experienced YG product manager is no longer with Yahoo! and has been replaced by a new employee (I think, but don’t really know because Yahoo! never announces a change of guard). The directory of YGs at
http://groups.yahoo.com/
has not been updated (in terms of new categories) for a long, long time (if ever).

The new Yahoo! staff has created (yet another) forum for communicating with the community, and, apparently, has deserted the old YG Suggestion board which has been collecting suggestions from Group members for the last 5 years or so, non of which has been implemented, I think (?). Old bugs, are festering for years on end…

And yet, in spite, or maybe, because of this, the YGs community seems to thrive as can be seen in some public Groups such as the one mentioned above:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.co...
and YGs are still around, limping along, with all their warts intact, and if anyone asks me (they don’t), I would be happy if only Yahoo! announced officially that they will leave Groups alone.

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

jeremylichtman — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:17:19 -0000

Is there some kind of indication that they've given up on Groups? I'm not really familiar with the community.

It could just be a matter of improving the quality of advertising across their system, in order to make it worthwhile from a cashflow perspective.

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

Polly Lacy — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:06:08 -0000

As the owner of two Yahoo groups, I hope the new people seriously consider Yahoo Groups in their consideration of what to keep! There are thousands of Groups with millions of members who have nurtured their groups, put a lot of hard work into them, and whose members depend on the information, help and entertainment in those groups. One of my groups goes back to 1999 and has thousands of messages in our archives and much information in our Files, Photos, etc. on our Group Site. There are Groups of every conceivable bent, some very important ones being support groups for disabled people who depend on their group for many kinds of support. The loss of the Groups function would affect millions of people, all of whom are potential customers for Yahoo products and advertisers! PLEASE, Yahoo, don't desert us!
Polly Lacy

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

jeremylichtman — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:59:41 -0000

Hopefully Y! is watching your comments! :)

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

jeremylichtman — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:55:33 -0000

Disqus possibly had a cookie on your browser.

Several of my friends use nonsense strings for their names. I usually just have to approve their comments.

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

Steve Hill — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:42:14 -0000

. . . and asked to supply email address, and spookily disassembles it and types my actual name in the second box, letter by letter.

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

Steve Hill — Wed, 16 May 2012 11:39:07 -0000

And FYI - if this posts - I did not sign into anything to make it. I came here from a link on GroupManagersForum@yahoogroups.com, and 'own' and/or moderate several Yahoo! Groups.
No other groups do as much, and as well, as Yahoo! Groups do, and for as many people. And for free.
As someone who gets it all for nowt (something that every Yorkshireman aspires to) I have no muscle, leverage or clout whatsoever - just a heartfelt plea: please don't drop Yahoo! Groups!
Vistaman
. . . . Later . . .I am asked to 'Post as . . .'

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

jeremylichtman — Fri, 11 May 2012 09:56:05 -0000

Just an FYI - I believe I have this set up so that you can post without logging in.

What you're describing is a cultural issue. It similar to the one faced by Jack Welch at GE in the early 80s. Getting rid of bureaucracy in a large organization is a big, ongoing task.

Re: Can Yahoo! be turned around?

oth — Thu, 10 May 2012 22:00:15 -0000

Yahoo can be easily turned around if only top management followed the wise words of its new CEO who defined customers as both USERS and advertidsers:
-  The majority of current Yahoo members have been with Yahoo for a long time
- They have a vested interest in keeping the site going
-  They provide the site with contents that are then used by Yahoo! to attract eyeballs to sell to advertisers
-  However, Yahoo has not paid much attention to its existing members – they only try to please and attract new, younger members:
o       Software bugs fester for years
o       Company blogs are left unattended
o       Help files are constantly changing – not for the better, but just for a change
o       New, unpopular software is constantly forced on existing member communities who resent being used as guinea pigs
o       Employees rarely communicate with user communities
o       Top management never commits to continue to support a product – forcing anxious users to look for substitutions
o       I can come up with more…

Here is one example Yahoo can make me personally much happier: I used my Yahoo! ID to log into this forum to post a message, but had to pay a big price to do it: sharing my Yahoo connections with Disqus! Surely there is no need for Yahoo! to force me to share my connections with outsiders?

Re: On simplicity

jeremylichtman — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:07:30 -0000

I think the first people to live in cities were still hunting and gathering. Agriculture was a longer term reaction to population pressure.

It would be easy enough to test your hypothesis though. There are many former hunter-gatherers in the cities of Brazil.

Re: On simplicity

sol — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:04:31 -0000

"Perhaps we live in a complex age, and this is merely a reaction..." Perhaps the first people to organize and live in cities longed for the simpler days of hunting and gathering. ;)

Re: The (slightly misanthropic) Rules of HTML Compliance – Part 1

jeremylichtman — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:25:53 -0000

I can forward you a copy. It isn't in a suitable format for public posting - lots of reference to internal events that happened etc.

Re: The (slightly misanthropic) Rules of HTML Compliance – Part 1

Elie — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:11:13 -0000

I remember this post - any chance you would share the original version as well?

Re: The Effect of HST on Online Business

yazmine — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:56:06 -0000

Hi, Im opening an online jewelry business (in progress) and would like to know if it's absolutly necessary for me to apply HST. I was told by someone that unless im making $30,000 +, I don't have to apply for HST. Shipping rates are high enough already, especially to states n international countries and this will only add more to it. Could someone please explain me in detail. Thank you.