Merrimack Valley Then and Now

We have our own weather in the Merrimack Valley, and Boston weathermen are always pointing that out when they predict snowfall amounts. At a recent event, while discussing the predicted pattern of the coming snow (which has come and gone by the time I write this), someone asked where I lived.  I replied "In the Merrimack Valley." To my surprise, the person I was talking with had no idea where that was. At lunch the next day, a friend pointed out that many people in Boston/Cambridge really don't know much of Massachusetts geography outside of Metro Boston. That got me thinking about where the Merrimack Valley fits in with the Boston media's definition of Boston when they talk about Boston's loss of tech dominance to Silicon Valley.

Even the Megaboston proposal 100 years ago this month, going around the Twitterverse today,  wouldn't have extended this far north. Of course, 100 years ago, cities like Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill were still important cities on their own. Maybe they weren't quite the world class cities they were in the 19th century, but they were definitely still on the map. There's a long and rich history of tech and innovation in the Merrimack Valley. So, completely serendipitously, I came across this video from the AT&T Archives about  Western Electric Merrimack Valley Works (in North Andover), later known as AT&T Merrimack Valley Works, now known as Osgood Landing.



The video reminded me of Alexander Graham Bell's Haverhill connection. Bell's story is not just about technology but also about venture capital back in the day. Say what? Yup. Bell's principal financier for the telephone was Haverhill leather merchant Thomas S. Sanders. Bell, a specialist in teaching the deaf, was tutor to Sanders' son. Bell and Sanders became friends, and lots of Bell's telephone experiments actually happened in Haverhill. Sanders invested $110,000 in Bell's telephone. Sanders was one of the founders of Bell Telephone Company in 1877 along with Bell, Thomas Watson, and Gardiner Hubbard (Bell's soon to be father-in-law).

Haverhill claims that the first business telephone call was between Sanders' home on Kenoza Avenue and his sole cutting business on Merrimack Street.  Haverhill was right up there with Boston (first phone call) and Cambridge (first long distance phone call). Nearby North Andover was at that time home to Davis & Furber, makers of textile machinery, and so home to many skilled machinists.  With good reason the AT&T video treats the valley as a whole as a good place to build a huge tech complex.

Osgood Landing (formerly Merrimack Valley Works) in North Andover

The successors to Bell's telephone company continued to be a big presence in North Andover until well after the Merrimack Valley Works was built in the 1950s.  With Alcatel-Lucent now gone, the building houses everything from laser optics to laser tag. The tradition of innovation in the Merrimack Valley goes back a long way and continues to this day. 

The valley has gone through transitions from the textile and machine industrial economy, to the old-style tech economy, and into today's New Economy. To ease the transition to the New Economy, entrepreneur Desh Deshpande, founder of Sycamore Networks, in the Merrimack Valley town of Chelmsford, founded the Merrimack Valley Sandbox to develop and enhance the innovation ecosystem in the cities of the Merrimack Valley of Massachusetts, including Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill.

In April, Mass Innovation Nights will be coming to Lowell, the very heart and soul of the Merrimack Valley. Boston/Cambridge innovators and entrepreneurs will be able to see for themselves exactly where the Merrimack Valley is.

#MIN34

Welcome to MIN34

The innovators gathered for another Mass Innovation Night at IBM Waltham. This was the first MIN without BobbieC, so Tim Stansky was in charge of rounding up the innovators. Between Tim and Christine Sierra keeping things on track they proved that MIN is all grown up!

Things in the Hall of Innovation, the conference room, and the Experts Corner were all buzzing before 6:00 PM and the excitement ramped up quickly. With products ranging from mobile website development to used textbooks to bras and nutritional supplements, it was a challenge to take it all in. That's a big part of what makes MIN fun.

BlueTrain Mobile Team

The BlueTrain Mobile team not only did a great presentation, but also won the triple crown for the night: best team costume, best hat, and best prop. They kicked off their presentation with a train whistle and presented an excellent video. BlueTrain's Mobile Marketing Engine enables you to create professional and compelling mobile websites easily. They also work with customers to translate the design and personality of their desktop site into a better mobile experience. The team had fun posing with their train conductor hats and made their brand name memorable.

Kevin with Smooth 8

Smooth 8 showed off their liquid additive that reduces acidity in beverages. According to Kevin and Evita at their booth, a few drops of Smooth 8 in your drink not only enhances the taste, but helps your body maintain a proper PH balance by reducing the concentration of free radicals in the body and making antioxidants more available. This helps your body stay hydrated and healthy. They claim it even prevents hangovers. I didn't try it, but their table was getting plenty of traffic.

Catch App

CatchApp is a smart phone application that lets you create and manage location-based reminders. Not only does it remind you to pick up the salmon for dinner, but it tells you when you're close to a store that sells salmon. CatchApp is currently in Beta test, so you can sign up to be notified when it becomes available in the app store.

jog.fm

The jog.fm team had matching T-shirts and an interesting product. Running, power walking, cycling, or spinning jog.fm matches your workout music to your pace.  It's a fitness app that gets you moving and keeps you moving.

Jess from Zyrra

It's about time somebody applied technology to getting a bra that fits! Zyrra does just that. Using 10 measurements and an innovative CAD system, Zyrra creates and sews bras for each individual consumer, no more 34 B or 44 DD - just size you! Whether it's at a bra party or on board the bra bus that comes to your work place, ten measurements and ten minutes to a great fit. Jess looked terrific and you can too.

Mike from GivingSomething

GivingSomething is the coolest way to give real goods to your favorite nonprofits.  Whether it's litter boxes to the cat shelter or lacrosse nets to kids in Nicaragua, they get what they need and you know exactly how your money is being used. It's kind of like a bridal registry for non-profits. The best part is, there's no cost to the non-profit!

Crowd Ready for Presentations to Start

Hall of Innovation

Pat from Campus Libre

There was a good turn out with lots of newcomers. I even talked to somebody from New York. The presentations from BlueTrain Mobile, GivingSomething, Smooth 8, and CatchApp managed to be fun and get done within the 5 minute time allotment.

I almost managed to talk to every participating company. Besides those already mentioned, I chatted with NetCommissions, Campus Libre, and Jungle Torch.

Jerry and Igor from NetCommissions

The Experts Corner was busy with innovators consulting the experts as always. Tim Orazem from Boston SEO Experts agreed to pose for the traditional Expert Looking Expert shot.

Expert Looking Expert

Smile, It's #MIN33 !

Wow, it's the last Mass Innovation Night of 2011 already! IBM Waltham did a great job of hosting again. The space is great and the people are great. Turnout was a little lighter than usual this time, what with Christmas shopping and the prediction of sleet north and west of Boston (which, by the way, still hasn't happened as of Thursday afternoon.), but it was an enthusiastic crowd with a lot of newcomers.  The inimitable BobbieC was running around corralling the innovators and experts as attendees began filtering in. 

Folks Checking In

Bobbie also did a great job of reminding people to smile and enjoy themselves. MIN is a fun time to connect with people. That's what it's all about.

Budibar

My first taste of a Budi Bar was very satisfying. Budi Bars are whole food for your brain. Full of good stuff like nuts and seeds, they nourish your mind/brain as well as your body and enhance memory. I asked if I could attain enlightenment by eating one. Budi Bars can help, but I still need to meditate. :-)
The Budi Bar kept me going from arrival until after the presentations, so I think it worked.

Team Cangrade

Great companies are made by great people. The team from Cangrade enlightened me on how to hire great people. They combine their social science, psychology, and tech skills to produce a  pre-employment test that when combined with the public skill-test test marketplace cuts through the uncertainty in hiring.  They made a good case for how their pre-employment evaluation is more predictive of job fit than the interview process alone. Also, they had matching jackets, so I hereby award them best costume of #MIN33.

Greenbean -- Recycle This Can!

The innovation I was still bubbling about when I got home was Greenbean, best recycling idea ever. Greenbean is a reverse vending machine that takes cans and bottles, credits your paypal or student card with your 5 cent deposit for each bottle or can recycled, and gives you an instant real time update showing the number of containers recycled and energy savings within seconds. This is a brilliant strategy to  increase recycling rates by using gaming technology and social media. Colleges and student groups can challenge each other and compete in real time.

Greenbean's Beta machine has been on the MIT campus since the beginning of August and a machine is soon to be installed at Tufts. Tufts students will be able to compete against MIT in real time. Predictions of an epic recycling battle between MIT and Tufts were flying around the Twitter stream for #MIN33. I predict that MIT will win and they will be led by the DKE brothers. (Obligatory shout out to DKE whenever mentioning the Institute at the Center of the Universe. :-))

Team Mosaic

I was very impressed with Mosaic's  online and offline storage solution for photographers. As a photographer, I know I generate enormous amounts of data (or digital assets). Serious pro photographers generate even more. Managing all this data is tough job that requires lots of hard drives (:-)).   The Mosaic solution provides safe and accessible online storage, and helps manage data locally on multiple hard drives.  Less time at the computer shuffling hard drives means more time out in the field taking pictures. It's nicely integrated with Lightroom and Aperture too. That's my kind of innovation!

Switch Gear

Switch Gear Interchangeable Jewelry is like LEGO for women who wear jewelry. These kits give you huge numbers of combinations so you can be the innovator in creating your look for the day. You can go from casual to dressy to hipster even when you're on the road being a power woman entrepreneur.

Crowd Already Tweeting before the Presentations Start!

I was having so much fun talking with Board Prospects and ASH that the presentations were about to start and I hadn't met everybody yet! As a veteran of non-profit boards, I appreciate what Board Prospects is up to. ASH's multidimensional approach to health and sustainability impressed me as well.

ASH

Presenting Board Prospects

After the presentations I caught up with MyMentorLink and Job Hunt Express and had another Budi Bar to keep the energy flowing.

MyMentorLink

JR from Job Hunt Express

Along the way, my At-Hand Apps colleague, Robert, and I had a chance to talk with a search engine optimization expert about our New England Day Trips At Hand app.

Robert Demoing New England Day Trips At Hand to Melki

The Experts Corner featured a wide array of expertise this month, including Chef Lam who seemingly can do anything food and event related. I couldn't catch up with him for a photo, though.  The experts were all quite busy, as one would expect. I asked longtime Mass Innovation Nights supporter/expert, Nate Therrien, to pose for the traditional Expert Looking Expert closing photo. He promises to recycle that water bottle.

Expert Looking Expert: Nate Therrien

another great Mass Innovation Night -- #MIN32

Our host for this month's Mass Innovation Night (#MIN32) was MassChallenge, the business competition and incubator, in the Boston Innovation District.   CambridgeTrust was our sponsor for the evening and put on a good reception with crepes from Paris Creperie. To my delight, they were also handing out bags of Terroir Coffee. I reminisced with a couple of the Terroir Coffee people about the old days of the Coffee Connection and George Howell's collection of Huichol art. This was my first visit to the Boston Innovation District, which seems hip and cool with its location right next to the ICA.

The MassChallenge Space

 The MassChallenge space afforded plenty of room for all the innovators showing off products. Our At-Hand Apps table was right inside the entrance to the space and next to the netBlazr folks and Confidence Beads.

Robert from At-Hand Apps Demonstrating New England Day Trips At Hand

Robert and I chatted with all kinds of people about New England Day Trips at Hand, including people who will never pay for a travel app, those who are already our buyers, software developers, and business development folks. In demonstrating the app, I had my own @Ha! moment of discovering a nearby Boston Fire Museum that I didn't know existed (they have an antique hand-pumper!)!

Brough and Brian from netBlazr

 netBlazr helps businesses build cooperative networks that provide free and low-cost Internet broadband service to the co-op members with their specialized WiFi devices.  Their customers refer to netBlazr as the Skype of broadband. This should help hasten the onset of ubiquitous broadband.

Confidence Beads

Confidence Beads makes cool inspirational jewelry that gives back to ovarian cancer and domestic violence charities. That is a cool business model - their non-profit partners help sell and win big at the same time.  The beads are really beautiful.


Bindo

Bindo makes it easy for local neighborhood retailers to take advantage of the point of sale and back office technologies necessary for survival in today's competitive online marketplace. You can shop your favorite local stores all in one place and as easily as the huge online retailers plus get great service and crazy fast delivery.

Sharks Swimming Across SlideShark Table

SlideShark lets you  reliably and professionally show or view your PowerPoint presentations on your iPad. How cool is that? Plus they had the best swag -- toy sharks.

There was so much to see and I had less time than usual because I was also demoing our app, but I managed to check out:

• PAMSys from BioSensics, a tiny lightweight monitor that measures physical activity
• ArtVenue, which makes it easy for artists to show and sell their work in local businesses (and had a painting with a scannable QR code)
• HeyHeyGorgeous, a web service that helps you find hair salons in your city
• Seacoast Butters, delicious flavored butters.
• Smarterer, which helps you "show what you know" by testing and scoring you on digital, social and technical skills

Sam from BioSensics Showing me the PAMSys



ArtVenue



Tracey from Seacoast Butters



Ginger, Lime, Scallion Butter on Annarosa's Bread



Hey, Hey! Gorgeous



Smarterer

There were no teams with matching T-shirts or great hats at the event this time, but there were lots and lots of great people. The crepes were good too. And I came home with a toy shark, cool shades, and La Minita coffee from Terroir Coffee.

The Experts Corner was really more of an Experts Row this time. I got to chat with Joe Johnson from High Start Group and Daniel Kriegsman from Kriegsman & Kriegsman. Daniel agreed to pose for the traditional Expert Looking Expert shot. He looks quite expert.

Expert Looking Expert

Dennis Ritchie Day

The power vested in Tim O'Reilly has decreed today Dennis Ritchie Day. C and UNIX is the underlying "stuff" that makes the modern world work. Slashdot's post makes the point that this is a reaction to the overreaction to Steve Jobs' death. However, if we only appreciate Dennis Ritchie in the light of comparing his contribution to that of Steve Jobs we're missing the point that much important work has gone unrecognized. Dennis and the Bell Labs folks built on the contribution of Ken Olsen who died earlier this year, and though his passing was acknowledged by Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, the media did not make nearly enough fuss about the depth of the change that DEC brought to the world. KO was a modest man. dmr was a modest man. Neither were showmen. Yet, we stand on their shoulders to this very day.
 
One of  funniest moments of my life involved a reference to Dennis Ritchie. I was signing copies of Writing a UNIX Device Driver at a  LUG meeting in Nebraska when someone said that meeting me was second only to meeting Dennis Ritchie. Given that I am not worthy to be mentioned in the same paragraph as Dennis Ritchie, I responded with stunned silence followed by nervous laughter. Fortunately, other attendees also laughed because Dennis Ritchie was such a modest man that he would not have enjoyed being lionized either. We all had a good laugh.
 
The Onyrix blog posted a wonderful picture of Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson working at a PDP-11. That photo totally expresses what I just tried to say above about the link between the contributions of the Bell Labs folks and DEC.
 
We stand on the shoulders of giants.

misleading technical writing in 1898

I came across this article while perusing 19th century tech writing on Google Books.  My favorite line is

"But the difference between the mistake of a competent writer, and the absurd effusions of one ignorant concerning his topic, is very marked."

Here's the whole article for your #techcomm amusement:


Misleading Technical Writing

The above is the caption of an opportune editorial in the American Machinist.
The writer quotes, for example, two answers to questions, taken from contemporaries, which are, he claims, misleading and absurd. He deplores, and rightly, too, the fact that publishers of technical journals will maintain departments without competent editors.

The position of the American Machinist is, of course, correct in this matter.

If only well-informed men were to read the writings of the would-be teacher of what he himself does not understand, little harm might follow, except the loss of the reader's time—and temper. But it is the uninformed that have the greatest need of the technical Journals' helpfulness, and, therefore, to be misinformed through this channel is, to such, a great misfortune, and an inexcusable outrage.

Of course, as the editor says, all writers will make mistakes; and, it may be added, they will also speedily correct them if they know how.

But the difference between the mistake of a competent writer, and the absurd effusions of one ignorant concerning his topic, is very marked.

It is the duty of the technical journal to teach the best practice, and for a publisher to be careless in this respect is dishonorable.

We have read articles on foundry practice, written by men who, of course, were strangers to the "sand-heap," whose only merit was that they afforded amusement to the knowing reader. These could be excused but for the fact that the unknowing must he misled.

Obviously, this evil is hard to combat; but it will be well to publish wide the fact that it exists, and so, wise publishers will therefore be on the alert to weed out the incompetent members of tbeir staff.

The Foundry, Volume 13 -- 1898

the Twitter feed is back

After removing it because it didn't work with Internet Explorer, I have put the Twitter Updates feed back in again. I'll try to remember to start tweeting things as @eganwriter again to display them on this blog.