Towards the end of 1968, I accepted a position at the Thoraxcenter in Rotterdam. My task was to create and run the computer dept. It was actually two depts. One was part of the medical school at Erasmus University and the other was part of the Dijkzigt University Medical Center. Accepting the position was both … Continue reading
Category Archives: Avram’s Past
Promise we make to our future selves
We make trade offs all the time between what we would want now and what we will want later. Human beings have a pretty good ability to project into the future. But I am also interested in the relationship and obligation of our future self to who were are now and what that means for our future self. Continue reading
Avram, the Merchant Seaman
Reading the Steve Jobs bio made me want to share a bit more about my past just in case Walter Isaacson does not write my bio. Continue reading
Steve Jobs and me
I am left feeling sad for his death, admiration for his accomplishment and frankly, disappointment that I was no Steve Jobs. And grateful that I am still alive to love my wife, children and friends Continue reading
The Idea Man by Paul Allen
Just read the Idea Man by Paul Allen. I don’t usually review books and certainly not here on my blog. And this post is not really a review as much as it is a commentary. The first 50% of the book deals mostly with Paul’s experiences with Bill Gates including the formation of Microsoft and … Continue reading
Intel Alumni Panel Discussion
Last month, I chaired a panel at an event held by the Intel Alumni Group. Like many companies with strong cultures, the alumni still identify with the company and therefore with each other. I am still not sure why I agreed to chair the panel Maybe it was because I feel I owe Intel much and the much of the Intel that I owe is now alumni. But probably it was just that I was asked and asked in such a nice way by Bruce Schechter, the founder and president of the Intel Alumni Network. Continue reading
Why companies fail to make transitions
So why can companies not make it through these transitions? It is pretty simple: They would have to take the lead in destroying their own business. Continue reading
My first hacks
In those days, the telephone operators knew how much you deposited by the sounds of the different kinds of coins. So we recorded the sounds that were needed to make a 3 minute call to the USA from Paris. Then when the operator said (in French of course), deposit x number of Francs, we played back series of sounds. Continue reading
The Road Behind
There is an interesting review of Bill Gate’s pedictions from his book “The Road Ahead”. Bill Gates was never very good at seeing the technology future. Frankly, I was not impressed with his understanding of technology. And what I found scary was that he believed that he was a technology visionary. While I meet him … Continue reading
If I was seven year old now and had an iPad
Today, while my wife was having a tennis lesson, I waited for her in the car. During this time, I took another class on iTunes U on evolution via my iPad. When she came back, she noted how amazing it was that I could take a course along with actual Yale students. I agreed it was amazing. Then I began to think of my own youth and how I educated myself and how different it would be if I was seven years old now and had an iPad and access to the internet. Continue reading
Two Thirds Done 