Pierre de Beaumont, at 95; founder of Brookstone Co.

Pierre de Beaumont started Brookstone Company from his farmhouse parlor in the Berkshires in 1965. A former engineer for Packard Motor Car, he put a classified ad peddling special tools in Popular Mechanics magazine and filled orders the same day they landed in his mailbox.


Launching their business with an initial investment of $500, Mr. de Beaumont and his wife, Mary Deland (Robbins), eventually saw the venture mushroom into 300 retail outlets, where mall shoppers still plunk down in massage chairs and marvel at gizmos and gadgets for better living.

Innovation in the Courts - Tablets are Nothing New, Now Mainstream

1/20/2011

At CES the most innovative products were various tablets. True, they have come along way, but what's new please?

About 10 years I was working in the CJIC office of Santa Clara County. I worked on a project with an objective to alleviate carpel tunnel syndrome among court clerks. This was an effort to relieve court clerks of their use of keyboards because of the high volume of cases and necessary typing associated with docket entries. The proposed solution was a windows based graphical user interface. I proposed the use of an Acer pen tab computer that could also be carried around and affixed to a wall as a space saver. The Santa Clara Superior Court had contracted with the County and would require a large systems work-over to meet the objective and my recommendation. The cost for the Superior Court to have the county CJIC office do the work was excessive. So the Superior Court continued to maintain its text based keyboard applications for some time with - no doubt - more costs associated with carpel tunnel claims.


I left my work in government because there was always some limitation to getting things done. Ironically, in my view, the money is not the issue in government. Instead it is the the amount of money a government agency is expected to pay for a service, even - and maybe especially - when an internal agency does the work. I believe government business is an opportunity for businesses, where businesses can showcase their products; where they can offer them at a reduced cost for public service and for strategic marketing opportunity. And I certainly believe internal agencies should develop means to assist their counterparts with services at reduced costs.

There are no competitive market forces to compel government to act, so government needs help. I suggest government act boldly to improve its administration by reducing costs through efficiencies of operations, including the implementation of the most innovative technologies. And I propose that businesses help with a sense of duty and a willingness to innovate....NO RISK, NO REWARD!!  (I recognize that this will require reform in both government and business)