ktoddstorch @ business thoughts

Hi! My Name Is...

As we "bloggers" get to know more about each other from our posts and comment conversations, I thought I would introduce myself more than you'll get from this blog.

I started blogging with my personal blog as a way to keep family and friends updated on the Storch family.

If you want more info on what I'm up to, along with the family/kid pictures and the like, check out my personal blog here.  You can always click on the Feedburner billboard (Self Promotion section) on the top right as well.

As always, thank you for reading and your comments.

[there isn't any wedding video for you to watch!]

Year's Best: Lance Armstrong's liveSTRONG Bracelet

If you have spent anytime on this blog or my personal blog, you know I am a huge fan of LA.  I'm drawn to his achievements both pre and post-cancer. 

How he has embraced and set a mission to help find a cure for cancer and to help those fight cancer, is honorable and unfortunately, not the norm for today's mega-stars.

News 8 in Austin has a good write up on the liveSTRONG bracelet, its "fashion" statement along with a 2 minute LA video interview.

[link] via

Digital Rights Management (DRM), Hollywood and You

If you own a DVD player, a PC, a TiVo or a .mp3 player, you are or have been subject to DRM.  This is best read I've seen so far explaining both sides of the subject (or at least one side slamming the other side's point...)

Boing Boing has a great post from the Editor-in-Chief of Wired Magazine and the blog.

Be warned, you may realize that your "rights" are really not yours.

[read]

UPDATE - 12/30
Phillip Torrone at Engaget has some great commentary at the beginning of the 12/15
podcast (yes...I'm a week behind).  He references this blog posting.  I highly recommend you listen!
[link]

UPDATE - 1/02/05
Cory Doctorow has a followup to his original Boing Boing post I listed above.  I have a feeling that the pot is just beginning to boil and this will be a mainstream-America issue soon.  What's the over/under before this issue makes an appearance on "60 Minutes"?  Wait...will CBS let this happen or will it be restricted so you can't save it to your TiVo?
[read]

UPDATE - 1/04/05
Another good blog posting, this time from DROXY that covers the digital flags that the RIAA wants in all digital signals, TV, Radio, etc.
[read] via

People You Need to Meet: Business Evolutionist

I think I started reading Jon's Business Evolutionist blog after seeing it linked a few other places.  There is a good sense of community with his blog.

Jon seems to have a good network of friends and other bloggers and you can get into some great "comment conversations".  I love his postings on music and his openness to share his personal believes and feelings on the topics he writes about.

If you haven't checked out the blog, do so today!

Lance Armstrong: A Goldmine for Discovery Channel?

Lance was named the Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year for the 3rd year in a row.  Ties him with Michael Jordan for consecutive wins.  Look for even more liveSTRONG bracelet sales!

Most of you know that the Discovery Channel has picked up the title sponsor of his professional cycle team, now that USPS' sponsorship has expired.  Discovery promised new Lance racing programming, new ways to cross promote their other TV properties and a host of other Lance programming to add ratings gold surrounding his mainstream popularity.

Lance says he is 50/50 on returning to the Tour de France in 2005 and will make his decision in the upcoming months, but my opinion is that there is no way he won't race.  His competitive nature won't let a shot at 7 consecutive TdF's go by.  Also, I'm sure the Discovery Channel has plenty of TdF programming riding on Lance in the race, not to mention their ad department luring the OLN advertisers.

How much pressure will his new sponsors put on him to race?  Sirius has a new contract with him as well for a radio show.

Regardless, his sponsors, especially Discovery will be looking for ways to maximize their investment and there is no bigger stage for Lance in sports than the TdF.

UPDATE - 1/12/05
I promise to keep the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong posts to my personal blog, but when it comes to impactful business issues and thoughts, you'll see them here.  Reuters reports that Lance's contract with Discovery Channel does include that he must ride in another TdF.  With the new team's announcement yesterday, there will be a lot of speculation and pressure for him to ride this year.

Cycling is a much bigger sporting event in Europe than here in the States, but Lance has helped cross the TdF and cycling into mainstream America (who hasn't heard of the liveSTRONG bracelet or Tour de France now?).
[read] Reuters post on Lance's Discovery Channel contract obligations
[link] for Discovery Channel team announcement via

How to Podcast

It really is this simple (or difficult...).  Michael Geoghegan at  Reel Reviews has a great posting on exactly how he sets up his podcast. 

If you listen to the actual podcast, he explains what he used when he first got started, what improvements he has made and why and how to set it all up.

Great job Michael!  I'm sure plenty will be pointing their blogs to your posting as well as other podcasters talking about it.

20 Years of the Cellphone

Great post at Smartmobs highlighting the cellphone's history. 

My first cellphone was the big clunky Motorola "brick", back in 1991.  You know, the one Gordon Gekko used in Wall Street!  Man, I loved having that phone and the "freedom" it brought!

In fact, I probably still have it along with about 2 dozen others and the all of the freggin' accessories that are useless now...(I know, I need to recycle them).

What was your first cellphone?  Leave me a comment!

[read]

Feedburner!

I am now using Feedburner.  Why?  It allows me to get more detailed statistics for the site than Typepad provides.

For those of you who read www.ktoddstorch.com directly with your browser, this doesn't apply to you, but I do recommend using a newsreader to keep up with the postings (ie. Bloglines).

For those of you who use a newsreader such as Bloglines please update your feed to the following:

• http://feeds.feedburner.com/KtoddstorchBusinessThoughts

All you need to do is copy and paste the above URL in the "Add" section of "My Feeds".  Now you can delete the old feed so my blog doesn't show up twice in you blogroll.

So, why would YOU want to do this?  There's really nothing in it for you, other than knowing you are helping me out!  Well, actually, let the next paragraph be my small way of paying your back with some great humor.  Thanks for the help! 

Terry, thank you for the Feedburner help and to honor the "tech assist", everyone should click here to relish in the greatness of the original Burninator:  Trogdor!  If this doesn't make sense, you will just have to check it out for yourself.

Why I Have a Blog

This is a question I have heard from my wife before and as the new year approaches, (goal setting/resetting, reflections, etc) I thought I would try put it down in words.

As you probably know, I have 2 blogs.  One for personal and one for business.  Some history on why I started this is due to my brother Terry.  He and I have a lot in common, especially the love of cool, techie stuff.  He told me about blogs a while back and next thing you know, I'm reading a few, then setting up Bloglines and bang (!), I'm in.

The personal blog is a natural way to have a place to communicate with family and friends all over the place.  The business blog is more than that.

A few reasons for business thoughts (in no particular order or reference to "real or perceived" benefit):

• allows my "voice" to be heard around the world
• fosters communication with people I never would have the chance to meet
• is therapeutic
• makes me "see" outside of my comfort zone on issues that impact my life
• opens my eyes to opportunities and issues I haven't faced
• makes me a better manager to my staff
• keeps me sharp
• allows me to possibly help others outside of my personal network

OK, so how about you?  Do you have your own blog?  Why?  Leave me a comment on your thoughts.

New Blog Address

I am now the owner of www.ktoddstorch.com.  This URL is domain mapped to the original Typepad address (http://toddstorch.typepad.com/business).

Just an easier way to get to and remember the webblog address.