In the blogosphere, there is much buzz about Tom Evslin’s novel: Hackoff.com: An Historical Mystery set in the Internet Bubble and Rubble. Tom Evslin, a serial entrepreneur and inventor, is self-publishing the novel. His extraordinarily innovative method for promoting and self-publishing the book could threaten the hegemony of big media publishing gatekeepers.

The novel first appeared on the web at Hackoff.com, in a variety of formats. The chapters have been posted in blog format; consumers can subscribe to the RSS feed to automatically receive chapter updates. Consumers can also elect to download chapters in PDF form. Another innovative form: Tom had real venture capitalists and business executives narrate the book for downloadable chapter podcasts. The fictional company in Hackoff.com also has its own website, which heightens the realism of the novel experience.

Tom’s strategy is to give consumers the content for free with the hope it generates buzz, and increases sales of the hardcover, a calculated gamble for sure, but a strategy I anticipate will payoff for Tom, given the quality of his novel. An additional benefit of the web marketing strategy is that Tom has been pre-selling books on Amazon, so he can better estimate how many books should be printed.

This week’s resignation of RadioShack’s CEO David Edmondson for allegedly lying on his resume is the least of the company’s worries. RadioShack’s shares have fallen about 43 percent since the start of 2005. In the era of big box retailers such as Best Buy, Circuit City, and even Wal-Mart dominating consumer electronics, how can RadioShack possibly be competitive in this sector? What is RadioShack’s competitive advantage besides offering a wide variety of hard to find batteries?

The company’s current turnaround strategy is to close between 400-700 stores, close two distribution centers, and focus on higher-margin, growth categories. Of course, focusing on higher-margin, growth categories sounds great, but that’s been the Shack’s strategy for several years!

Does anybody have any innovative ideas for how to resuscitate RadioShack? Please comment or email me. Thanks, Matt

A new soda called Turn On is an energy drink and aphrodisiac. It contains conventional energy drink ingredients, including guarana, ginseng and caffeine, in addition to erotic herbs. Turn On is available online and will soon be available in stores.

Also, Java Sutra publicly launched this week, a Portland, Oregon based company that has developed a coffee blend infused with Puruvian Maca. Cultivated in Peru for more than 6,000 years, Maca was first used in Incan fertility rituals and given to warriors for strength before battle. Recent clinical studies in Europe and South America support Maca’s claim to have a positive effect on sexual desire, according the Company.

Java Sutra also has social conscience bent, and donates 25 percent of its net profits to charities that aid communities in self-sufficiency.

A two-week supply of Java Sutra is $15.95 with free express shipping via their website.

We will be post Arthur C. Clarke’s vision by a factor of 19 earth years, but having already exceeded it, we fall woefully far behind in our conquest of the solar system. However, in some ways, we will have made the visions of Star Trek’s 23^rd Century biomedicine seem primitive, in a decade and a half.

I should say that the main caveat to these predictions is a major nuclear or bioterrorist event, which could lead to an urban exodus, due to a lack of faith in the government’s ability to protect large population centers.

First prediction: A Heart Attack Will Achieve Obsolescence

There are genetic factors that predispose to certain arrhythmias, which unlike coronary artery disease, are not a simple plumbing problem. Already, with 64-slice CT scans, we have largely usurped the God of Angiography from his pedestal, by offering a non-invasive picture of coronary arteries. Radiation and risk of contrast material mitigate the use of these techniques, however, advances in MRI, and decreases in CT scanning time, will translate into chronological snapshots that will take the guesswork out of cardiac evaluation. Advances in endovascular repair will be superseded by nanotechnological intervention, which will evolve from clinic-based platforms to constant bystanders, which will monitor and correct defects, such as thrombus, and embolism.

We will find, I am sure, that there is a root inefficiency of the heart, apart from average mortality, that is present irrespective of genetic proclivities to certain arrhythmias. If it can be expressed as a ratio that certain increased activity will translate into sudden cardiac death, for instance, then constant monitoring via implantable devices will become standard. If the heart fails, the time to allocating a new, workable device, either by ingrafting the old with donor matched sells, or quickly rushing the patient to a hospital where a biosynthetic substitute can function as an intermediate. It will be interesting when a biosynthetic replacement will outperform the original – probably not by 2020, but I would not be surprised if one were designed by 2040.

By SHARKRIDE guest author David Harris

Ski Dubai, an awesome indoor ski mountain located in the scorching desert of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, opened in December 2005. The building is 25 stories high and has 22,500 square meters (about 3 football fields) consisting of two Alpine restaurants, five ski slopes, a snowboard run, and a children’s ice palace. Ski Dubai accommodates a limited 1,500 guests, so the lift lines aren’t too long!

Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas will be the largest cruise ship in the world, when it launches in May, 2006. The ship will serve a whopping 3,800 guests. In addition to a rock climbing wall, an ice skating rink, a spa, shops, and several restaurants, the ship will have the world’s first floating FlowRider, which is built by Wave Loch Inc. of La Jolla. The FlowRider, a recent innovation in water park technology, simulates a wave by passing 30,000 gallons of water over the ride surface. Check out Freedom’s website – it’s a fantastic example of Flash technology – the animated interface is extraordinarily compelling.

As I’ve mentioned, technology has enabled a democratization of creation that historically has been controlled by specialists: content development (ie the proliferation of blogs, Al Gore’s Current TV etc), product design (ie Zazzle), and innovation (ie Kettle Chips) are functions that have been been impacted by this phenomenon. Now advertising can be added to the list: 1-800 Flowers is offering consumers $5 off orders for voting on their favorite slogan for the new Happy Hour flower arrangements, a clever way to generate buzz!

Ferrari announced this week that they will open the first Ferrari Driving School in North America. The school will be located at Le Circuit Race Track in Mont Tremblant, Quebec, and will be modeled after the Ferrari Driving School in Italy, so apparently nothing truly innovative here. However, Ferrari has licensed its brand name to Aldar Properties, a Middle Eastern development company, which plans to open a Ferrari theme park in Dubai. The park will have a racetrack, driving instruction, rides, and other attractions, including displays of Ferrari history. Surrounding the park, which is expected to open in 2008, will be hotels and shops.

Elsewhere in the exotic car world, there are private road-course clubs, high-end storage garages, and timeshare car options opening. The Autobahn Country Club in Illinois charges a $25,000 initiation fee and annual dues of $3,000 for use of the club’s driving track and clubhouse. And the Classic Car Club Manhattan, a luxury car-share service with 20 cars available to members, charges a $1,500 one-time signing fee, and annual dues that start at $7,000.

[Thanks, Autoblog, WSJ]

Another custom product design opportunity: O’Neil offers consumers the opportunity to design their own wetsuits and boardshorts via the company’s website. A custom boardshort costs $70. Extremely radical, and appropriate for all shark rides!

[thanks, Brooks Lambert]

BACKGROUND

Although my vision for sustainable urban development could be applied in any mega-city, it is particularly appropriate in China, due to the country’s massive population, and booming economic development. The estimated average annual migration of 45 million rural Chinese to cities is historically unprecedented, and anyone who has seen the Pudong area of Shanghai, which fifteen years ago was open farm land, can attest to the amazing urban development happening in China.

Demand for cars in China is soaring. China is expected to have 140 million automobiles by 2020, seven times more than now, according to Chinese state media. As more Chinese drive, low-density sprawling development connected by roads and freeways is booming.

PROBLEM

Low density sprawl destroys natural habitats, is not conducive to non-polluting, efficient mass transit, and cuts productivity, as people spend an increasing amount of time in cars.

It is clear that LA type car culture and urban sprawl don’t provide the best model of sustainable development in China.

THE WMJ SOLUTION

There is social and environment value in New Urbanism, a movement aiming to build communities that improve the human condition through harmonious compatibility between urbanization and environmental protection, improved social interaction between neighbors who share a walkable community and community services, and increased use of public transportation instead of highways. However, due to the sheer number of people in China, even clusters of new urban neighborhoods would still result in sprawl.

Moreover, wouldn’t it be great to incorporate new urban elements within cities instead of simply building more and more and higher and higher apartment buildings?

My vision: apply new urban neighborhood elements in multi-level, sky scraping structures. The structures would capitalize on new design, engineering, and construction technologies, which allow engineers to realize architectural projects of unprecedented scale and complexity. The structures would accommodate conventional buildings – homes, commercial spaces, community buildings, and trees – on multi-levels. There would be an artificial sky on each level that dims and brightens according to the time of day. The structures would be mostly open-air, but each level would have a perimeter of possibly glass, or other type of strong, transparent material to keep inhabitants from falling.

There could be high-density condo units on one level, and luxurious, single family homes on another. The first level could be commercial and retail space, which is easily accessible to tower residents, as well as to the broader city. One level could have a community club house, and recreational facilities, including a gym, tennis courts, swimming pool, and golf driving range.

Xie Xie

TerraCycle is an amazing “green” company that profits through sheer, relentless environmental strategies. The company’s flagship product, TerraCycle Plant Food, is made of organic worm castings, and packaged in used soda bottles. Not only is the product scientifically proven to be more effective than its synthetic competitors, it’s packaged in trash, so it’s good for the environment, and makes great business sense because used bottles cost less than new packaging! The company has a patent pending for used soda bottle packaging. TerraCycle Plant Food is available at Home Depot and Wal-Mart.

[Thanks, Greg Galant]