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The United States really didn’t understand what coffee could taste like. Coffee grinds were flavored with chips for a long time that helped maximize the profits of coffee companies. I had a friend of mine that worked in a packaging plant who worked on the equipment that filled and sealed coffee containers. He told me they changed brands all night, but never changed the beans. We were all getting fed the same crap, disguised in different coffee cans.

I’ve reduced the size of the video a little to fit in my blog, so some of the graphics look a little distorted. You can see this full video at Techpoint’s Video Magazine.

This is a video done for Techpoint by Cantaloupe to showcase the 2008 Mira Award winners. This was an incredible achievement by Patronpath and provides some great insight into what we do and why we won the award. Great video and you even see me in it for a split second.

This was my first year at the NRA Conference. Aside from getting more exercise than I have, by walking, the show wasn’t a huge technology fest. Perhaps the coolest technology there (aside from Patronpath) were digital displays, known as digital signage.

My team of good friends, Jason, Bill, Carla and I drove to Cincinnati yesterday for our final I-Prize presentation with Cisco. The Carmel facility is a lot closer but Cisco needed to move us to enable their full Innovation team to be present.

The Finals!

With over 1100 international entries to the contest, we were selected and made the 32 semi-finalists. Now we were one of the final 12 ideas presenting in front of the very board who initiated the contest. No pressure, huh?

When I was first hired at Patronpath, I was horrified (yes, that’s accurate) at the website that was up. It was pure flash, no pages, no back-end optimization (although SWFObject was loaded), no means of updating the content… and most of all, no traffic.

It was a site that cost plenty, with no return on investment. When I approached the agency who developed the site, there were no apologies. In fact, when I complained about the SEO, they offered another pricey contract to optimize the site. That was the final straw! No agency with any conscience would build a site that no one can find.

Three companies that I’m closely aligned with have been nominated as finalists for Indiana’s Mira Awards:

It’s not often that an opportunity comes like this - a chance to win $250,000 and work with a company like Cisco to make your idea become a reality!

Before you read on, we could use your support. Though our application has made it to the Finals, we’re looking pretty light on votes. If voting is still open, we’d appreciate if you would register and vote for us: