The day has come--Just in time for the Father's Day shopping season--to announce the winners of this year's coveted WhoHas Awards for the best products of 2008, an annual tradition since earlier today.
(Click on the WhoHas trophy to the right to get your own Flying Spaghetti Monster medallion--a must-have spiritual connection to our Noodly Creator.)
The winning products of the WhoHas Awards have been carefully selected and tested at home by an esteemed, hand-picked panel of expert judges. And when I say "judges" I mean "judge", and when I say "judge" I mean me.
To maintain the high standards that the world has come to expect in a WhoHas Award, I've refrained from considering any Bessemer portfolio products. That's okay--Flock and Yelp will just have to settle for winning the PC World Best Products of 2008, also announced today (no doubt timed by PC World to get some PR lift by coinciding with the WhoHas Awards). The WhoHas Award for Most Useful Product
After years of searching for a replacement to my trusted purse, I finally found a worthy successor. The Tumi T-Tech Jane Flow Small Flap Bag has everything I've been looking for in a purse: quick access flap (with magnetic connector--easier than velcro); zipped compartments; waterproof and durable; and the perfect size (just big enough for a Kindle).
The WhoHas Award for Best Value
"You know you're getting old when you stoop to tie your shoelaces and wonder what else you could do while you're down there." -- George Burns
The shoehorn is an oldie but a goodie--a classic, yet timeless invention. This particular unit comes in attractive natural grain wood so you can leave it in plain sight. It's extra long so there's no unnecessary bending or delay as you rush out the door. Save your shoes, save your thumbs, and save your money with this value gift...
The WhoHas Award for Most Fun Product
This is the most fun toy my family has acquired for years. Gobble is a bank that eats coins and paper money. Gobble talks a lot (and belches, too, from too much money). I can't explain--you've just got to be there. For ages 3 to 42.
The WhoHas Award for Best Picture
Really, I'm not a foreign film snob, but this film was the best I've seen in a long time. Great story line, great acting.
Congratulations to the first group of this year's WhoHas Award winners!
Subscribe to this blog feed for more WhoHas Awards in the coming week...
A month ago Experian sued Lifelock, and soon after some enterprising class action attorneys filed their own lawsuits. The lawsuits certainly make some disparaging claims about Lifelock. Since we at Lifelock know the claims to be false, we satisfied ourselves to gracefully wait for our day in court to present the compelling evidence, even though we expected the plaintiffs to sling mud at us in the meantime.
And sure enough, eager for a juicy story, a parade of journalists (and I use the term generously) lapped up the mud, seizing the opportunity to disparage a successful business (always an attention grabber). But what surprised me today is that you--a New York Times columnist--joined the lynch mob, and did so in a particularly naive way. Such fluky foolishness hurled from the bastion of good journalism demands a response.
In today's column on Your Money, you follow the herd in reporting Experian's claims as though they were true. You imply that Lifelock's service doesn't work because our CEO is one of the several dozen Lifelock customers (out of a million!) who once had to resort to our service guarantee for protection when a lender screwed up. (You do acknowledge that the CEO's single $500 exposure came after a year of publicizing his social security number on radio and TV.)
But then you add some original analysis, distinguishing yourself as a trustful friend of Experian:
"And if the alert repeatedly fires off false alarms, forcing creditors to constantly double-check the identities of LifeLock customers who have never been victims of fraud, it is possible that those credit issuers will pay less attention to them. Experian is so worried about this, along with other issues, that it has filed suit against LifeLock."
That is so sweet! Those kind-hearted execs at Experian were so concerned for consumer privacy that they launched a legal campaign to shut down Lifelock. That's just the sort of philanthropy we have come to expect from a fine credit bureau like Experian (who just reported $4 Billion in revenue last year primarily from selling consumer data). Someone should give those darlings a medal!
Unless... neah, there couldn't have been another motive to sue, could there?
Experian's juiciest market is the community of spammy direct marketers who push pre-approved credit cards on our debt-junkie nation. These loan sharks are so busy, er, serving the public that they can't bother themselves to verify the identities of the people to whom they're sending all those credit cards. (Who has time for this?) So naturally, they won't buy credit reports "crippled" with fraud alerts. Perhaps then, as a New York Times reporter, you might suspect that Experian is just a wee concerned about their $4 billion share of the industry.
And if that isn't motive enough, consider that Congress had to pass a law forcing the credit bureaus to issue fraud alerts. Obviously Experian doesn't want the expense and hassle of accommodating these consumer requests. (Again, who has time for this?) But now, thanks mostly to Lifelock, fraud alerts are common, and Experian is forced to actually incur the expense that Congress mandated. Shouldn't that motive also intrigue the Times?
Not only was your inference naive, but your basic point about the false alarms is also wrong. A fraud alert is not an alarm--it is a process check. And not even a double-check, as you call it, but the only one in the process. Don't we want lenders to verify the identities of ALL their applicants, even those not already reported as victims?
You conclude that Lifelock's service isn't worth $10 a month because you can simply protect yourself by following these 10 easy steps:
Mail all three credit bureaus a letter and pay each one a fee to issue a credit freeze on your account. (Oh, and you forgot to mention that the letters have to be certified.)
Anytime you get a new job, or credit card, or a cell phone, or a mortgage, etc, first call the credit bureaus three days in advance, give them your password, and pay a fee to lift the credit freeze. (You'll also need to do this on your way to the hospital if you ever need to be admitted.)
In some states, call the bureaus again and pay a fee each time to restore the credit freeze.
Replace your mailbox with a secure mailbox (on sale now for only $445).
Contact all your service providers and ask them for online accounts instead of paper bills (because no one can ever get to your online data).
Buy a shredder (they range in price from $100 to $800).
Every day shred all your mail. (Who has time for this?)
Lock up your social security card.
Stop carrying a checkbook. (Er, isn't that a bit inconvenient?)
Keep an eye on any relatives having financial difficulties. (Really, it's what you wrote.)
Thank you, Ron, for demonstrating just how valuable Lifelock's service really is!
But please tell me: do you still think that Experian is sincerely acting openly in the consumer's interest, or furtively in its own? Who's the real villain in this story? If I have given you cause to re-consider, I hope you'll follow through in print.
Yours truly (and you can call the number on my fraud alert to check), David Cowan
While VMware was virtualizing the server, Wyse was on the cusp of virtualizing the client. And so I had filled my home with those hot little Blazer terminals, severing the chains of PC maintenance. As I'd wander through the house, my Windows desktop followed me like a labrador, popping up with the push of a button faster than you could say Operating System. No fan noise, no power drain, no wires, no expensive upgrades, no added backup, no updates...
But now that my office PCs run Vista (for better or worse, the new standard), my Wyse terminals no longer work. It's not just that the Vista-compatible RDP software is late. No, it's not coming ever, according to the one Wyse rep who actually bothered to call me back as promised.
UPDATE: On the second business day following this post, Steve from Wyse returned my call from two months ago. He gave me access to new firmware for the S10 Blazer clients that include Vista-compatible drivers, so my home is one again Wysed up. Apparently, the problem I encountered was not in Wyse's technology, but in the customer support process. Having said that, if you do need any help from Wyse, Steve knows his stuff.
The Union Station Master shouted these words on October 6, 1943, when 200 rabbis marched on Washington, DC in the only rally ever held there in support of the victims of the Holocaust. FDR refused to meet the 200 protesters, but Congress later held hearings on the plight of European Jews and formed the War Refugee Board in 1944.
I was proud to learn today that my grandfather, Dr. Moshe Blech, was one of the 200.
Another Proud Dad Moment... During the Q&A, the Oak Knoll School principal asked the little scientist his biggest regret in life. Answer: "The letter I wrote to the President telling him to build the bomb."
Congratulations and thanks to the teams at Sirtris, PA Semi and Gracenote, three Bessemer portfolio companies who all signed and announced their acquisitions in the last 12 hours.
Sirtris, the startup that cheats death, fetched $720 million from GlaxoSmithKline. This company, whose sirtuin activators have been touted as the fountain of youth (at least for overweight laboratory mice), was the brainchild of serial entrepreneur Christoph Westphal, a Harvard trained doctor and geneticist. Chris Gabrieli (pictured right) and Steve Kraus led the investment for Bessemer (huge hat tip to Jonathan for the intro--we owe you one!).
Meanwhile, Gracenote--that music database in the sky that tells us all what song, artist and album we're listening to on our PCs, in our iPods, in our CD players, and increasingly in our cars--has fetched a $260 million price from Sony. Special congrats to founder Ty Roberts (pictured right), CEO Craig Palmer, my partner Jeremy Levine and our co-investor Sequoia Capital.
And finally, Forbes reported just minutes ago that Apple has disclosed its acquisition of PA Semi, the innovator in power efficient microprocessors. PA Semi was the brainchild of DEC's rock star chip designer and Sibyte founder Dan Dobberpuhl (pictured right). Thanks to my partner Rob Chandra, who led the A round with help along the way from Ted Lin, Devesh Garg, Umesh Padval and Derrick Lee. Congrats as well to our co-investors Venrock, Highland and Focus.
It wasn't the usual crowd that filled the seats in Kepler's Bookstore on February 25, 2008. The evening's audience consisted mainly of families from all over the Bay Area for whom this was their first Author's Talk. Such standing-room-only would have been expected for a Secretary of State, an NFL quarterback, or a Nobel Laureate--not for a local teenage boy.
But Blake Taylor's recently published memoirs of growing up with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has already touched the lives of thousands of families, with the promise of reaching several million more in the US alone who strive to cope with the realities and myths of this widely misunderstood condition. So this audience came keenly interested in meeting a family role model (now a freshman and molecular biology major at Berkeley), with written questions and no deficit of attention to his advice.
* a heartening coming-of-age story whose hero's unique perspective shines through an authentic stream of consciousness similar to Mark Haddon's A Curious Incident in the Night-Time;
* a field journal of the first-hand scientific observations that normally elude pediatric psychiatrists who must normally speculate about the intentions and feelings locked up inside relatively un-communicative kids (e.g. "what was he thinking when he lashed out at his sibling?"); and
* a self-help book for kids and their parents who strive to understand and cope with ADHD.
But unlike the recent swarm of What-You-Need-To-Know-About-ADHD publications, this is not a science or medical book, and Blake makes no pretense otherwise. Readers are clearly advised to direct medical questions to their doctors, as Blake reinforced during the Q&A session at Kepler's. A clear-thinking, humble scientist at heart, Blake understands that it's okay to lack answers.
This honest self-awareness is critical to Blake's success at overcoming his disability. Among his many tips, Blake encourages open communication about ADHD among families, friends and teachers. His personal anecdotes demonstrate how such disclosures have prevented misunderstandings around his behavior, his medicines, and his tics. As he grew comfortable telling people that he has ADHD, they warmed up to him faster, and helped him solve his problems. It even tempered the bullies who prey on odd kids.
Obviously, the book itself exposes highly personal information, and in this way Blake sets an example for his reader. But by the very existence of ADHD & Me, Blake sets an even more profound example. Here's a kid whom several teachers were ready to write off as incapable of meeting normal academic expectations--with illegible penmanship and an inability to complete simple everyday tasks without the aid of psychotropic meds. And yet he authored a highly celebrated book while still in high school. This fact conveys hope, even before the reader has cracked open the cover.
The book itself is a quick and easy read. Each of the 15 chapters corresponds to one aspect of growing up with ADHD: being distracted (his "mind is surfing channels, but someone else has the remote"); being impulsive (e.g. setting the table on fire); being disorganized; being hyperactive; having tics; being unpopular; being bullied; being isolated; being misunderstood; being blamed; being rigid; being disobedient; being discriminated against; taking control; and last but far from least, being gifted. Each chapter includes a memory, lessons learned, and tips on making the most of life with ADHD. For example, Blake explains how he overcame his poor social skills by approaching friendship like a science-through observation, experimentation and planning, he learned to develop scripts and techniques that helped him socially.
For any family coping with this disability, Blake's stories strengthen the bond between reader and author by sharing all the quirks that often characterize ADHD kids, such as an obsession with Legos and Knex toys, the inability to sit through a meal, hypersensitivity to noises, bright lights and crowds, an impaired sense of the body's boundaries, the tics, poor penmanship, the perception of disrespect from "trying to defend yourself," and the mysteriously cancelled playdates. Many readers will recognize their own stories unfolding in the pages.
The stories follow Blake's inner dialogue as he struggles to behave normally and as he slowly improves with treatment and therapy. And so they stand as direct evidence refuting the widespread and harmful myth that ADHD is a figment of our imaginations. Egged on by sensationalist media hounds like Rush Limbaugh (who calls ADHD "a hoax"), most Americans believe that the true epidemic is not a mental health condition, but the aggressive medication of kids with unnecessary psychotropics merely because they act like "rowdy boys." They believe that parents and teachers, too lazy or liberal to exact some good old fashioned discipline, resort to doping up the children on "kiddie cocaine."
As evident in the American Psychiatric Association's DSM of Mental Health Disorders, the scientific community was long ago compelled by the preponderance of evidence from behavioral studies, brain scans, clinical trials, etc. But unfortunately for Blake and others, a gap between real science and popular science always persists, and ADHD is no exception. That's why Blake's first grade teacher, rejecting Blake's diagnosis, tried to "fix him" through repeated detention and humiliating punishments (e.g. cleaning the toilets).
Blake clearly goes after other myths as well: that the mother is to blame for bad behavior; that kids shouldn't seek assistance from adults (or "snitch") when harassed by other kids; and that disadvantaged kids should be left alone to build character, rather than be "coddled" with aids and special accommodations. He refutes the common misperception that he didn't care about the other kids. Recalling his first day of pre-school, Blake describes how the noises, fluorescent lights and crowds overwhelmed his senses-how he sought refuge in the quiet corner, which the teachers misinterpreted as lack of interest in making friends. Sometimes adults condemned Blake as violent when he tried to defend himself from bullying.
Nonetheless, ADHD & Me is ultimately upbeat. Blake's concluding message is that ADHD is a difference, not a disability. ADHD minds clearly present disadvantages that kids must learn to mitigate. But usually they also present gifts like intelligence, hyper-focus, passion, energy, creativity, an adventurous spirit, and love of nature. ADHD & Me reflects many of those gifts.
Blake's book is a good read for all. For kids with ADHD, it's a source of self-esteem and inspiration. For their families--including the lucky ones who met Blake at Kepler's--it's chock full of great advice. And for those who still dismiss ADHD kids as simply non-thinking derelicts, how can they refute Blake's testimony of his inner dialogue?
To them, Blake Taylor's story says: I write, therefore I think.
The day has come--Just in time for the Father's Day shopping season--to announce the winners of this year's coveted WhoHas Awards for the best products of 2008, an annual tradition since earlier today.
In today's column on 
While VMware was virtualizing the server, Wyse was on the cusp of virtualizing the client. And so I had 
An out-of-the-box thinker, Taylor has authored a book,