From: Adam L. Beberg (beberg@mithral.com)
Date: Wed May 10 2000 - 21:40:56 PDT
Just the bits:
And the winner is - EyeGen
EyeGenRed is a dye that makes DNA visible to the naked eye. Because it
doesn't require expensive equipment for detection and still offers high
sensitivity measurements, EyeGenRed is a safer, cost-reducing and
time-saving alternative to the currently used radioactive and
fluorescent probes for diagnostic and biological imaging. Since DNA
manipulation is at the core of most genomic, medical and biotech
research, EyeGenRed has broad applications as an invaluable tool in an
expanding $15 billion dollar annual market.
Commentary on the bits:
[http://50k.mit.edu/50k/2000/2000_50k_finalists.htm]
I watched the webcast of the awards, and all the finalists did a
presentation.
The microEngine guys just rock, they make micromechanical engines that
generate power or refrigerate things. I want one right now, I could
finally build a mobile system with more then 12 seconds of battery life.
They should have won. Mazu Networks has some more load balancing and DoS
defense software. Opticomp Networks makes optical network components to
handle all that bloated XML faster. Strong Numbers is consumer reports
for the internet age, just like pricewatch.com does. Amtek has designed
low cost medical equipment for the 1B people on the planet that dont
even have clean water. (you'd think that may be important too). EyeGen
is above and Centrata we've delt with on the list before.
It's interesting that both the runners up (Mazu Networks and Centrata)
are entering already saturated markets - so much for diligence by the
judges, most of which are VCs and people who should know better.
The two "big picture" important ones - health care, and eliminating all
those hyper-toxic batteries - didn't win. The winners were biotech and
internet plays.
But I must say, Centrata has balls. I watched as they read off content
from the Cosm, SETI, and other web sites. Their cited application was a
coordinated DoS attack (load test) on request, and one of their
inspirations was Napster. Nothing like making everyone else nightmare
scenario your business plan.
I've realized you have to play the game against all these copycats, so I
can play the quote game too, I mailed Bob Metcalfe after he wrote about
Centrata [it's in the archive].
> From: Bob Metcalfe <metcalfe@IDG.net>
> To: Adam L. Beberg <beberg@mithral.com>
> Subject: Re: Centrata
>
> Dear Mr. Beberg,
>
> Thanks for your below reminder. Yes, nothing new under the sun.
And I think I'll add this quote from his article to the Cosm page...
"... one of my favorite ideas: ... to make a market for unused computing
resources on the Internet and thereby assemble "the world's fastest
computer and the world's largest hard drive." "
Well, I already did the "fastest computer on earth" in '97 - it was the
distributed.net slogan back when I ran things, and it was the fastest
until that little SETI thing. Cosm adds a DFS and things, so it looks
like Bob is in my corner.
This is really starting to piss me off in a funny way. Welcome to the
world where copyright means nothing and all patents are bogus. Glad my
plan is something completely different.
- Adam L. Beberg
Mithral Communications & Design, Inc.
The Cosm Project - http://cosm.mithral.com/
beberg@mithral.com - http://www.iit.edu/~beberg/
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Wed May 10 2000 - 21:42:22 PDT