1. I have a deep emotional relationship with my phone. You’d have to make something that will provide a better relationship and feature set.

2. No call drops and coverage in more areas.

3. You’d have to be considerably cheaper than the iPhone service, period.

So Research In Motion, when you get your Storm 3 and it has the capability to create a stronger emotional connection than my iPhone, then you might have me if you:

1. Pay my AT&T bill for 6 months.
2. Give me the Storm 3 device and service free for 6 months.
3. Automatically port my existing phone number, contact list, apps, pictures and music to the new phone, with complete rollback undo capability in case your product sucks.

Then, and only then, will I give you a shot. So my prediction: not going to happen.

So dear readers, all 4 of you (and you know who you are!) let me know what you think in the comments below.

You know, for libraries!

I would love to get one of Amazon’s Kindle 2 wireless reading devices, but I’d rather download books from my public library, books that I’ve already paid for with my tax dollars. Here are my thoughts on how it might work.

You see, I used to buy books. I liked to keep score by having a well-stocked bookshelf of tattered, well-read books with crinkly spines. Then I started watching my spending, and realized that it would be quite a savings if I used the library instead. So I gave our library a shot and discovered to my delight that we have an outstanding library system. I’m able to get most of the books I’m interested in reading, I just have to temper my impulsive 9:30 PM run to Borders for a new book, while I wait for my request to be fulfilled. So not only am I spending less, but I’m also taking advantage of something I’m already paying for.

Which brings us back to the Kindle. How great would it be if I could connect to my public library (secure login of course) and browse their catalog for electronic downloads? I could finish one title, and then download the next, even while traveling to Vancouver, BC or Terra Haute, IN, provided a 3G wireless network is available.

I imagine the business model and process would work something like this: The library decides it wants to support Kindle. The library buys a Kindle license for each book, much like buying printed copies. The Kindle version of the book is then available for download, and everyone gets paid - Amazon, the publisher, the author. But the community benefits as well.

So what about infinite downloads of the same content for the price of just one license? We could solve this problem by imposing a model that is similar to how it works with real books. If there is just one copy, then you wait in line for someone to return it. If it is a popular title, and the library wants to keep the lines short, then the library gets multiple copies.

For the Kindle approach, the license would be for 1 download per day. The library can buy multiple licenses to keep the lines short, and people who are in a hurry can go to Amazon and pay the $9.99. And to prevent people from downloading a gazillion books at one time, there would be a limit on the number of downloads per day. So for me, as a Library cardholder, I could download just one title today, and then another tomorrow. If there is a waiting list, I put in a request, and then the title is downloaded automatically once it is available.

What are your thoughts?

This thought occurred to me as I read the March 2009 issue of National Geographic, where Mel White contributes an article titled “Path of the Jaguar.” The article discusses efforts to preserve the corridor Jaguars follow as they range from Mexico to Argentina, which is referred to locally as Paseo del Jaguar.

The article starts with a tale of desperation. Mel White writes:

At dusk one evening, deep in a Costa Rican forest, a young male jaguar rises from his sleep, stretches, and silently but determinedly leaves forever the place where he was born.

There’s shelter here, and plenty of brocket deer, peccaries, and agoutis for food. He has sensed, too, the presence of females with which he might mate. But there’s also a mature male jaguar that claims the forest—and the females. The older cat will tolerate no rivals. The breeze-blown scent of the young male’s mother, so comforting to him when he was a cub, no longer binds him to his home. So he goes.

But the wanderer has chosen the wrong direction. In just a few miles he reaches the edge of the forest; beyond lies a coffee plantation.

The story continues with the jaguar losing its way and growing hungry, finally leaving the protection of the forest, crossing the open plain of a ranch, and killing a calf for food. Later the jaguar is hunted and killed, a victim of circumstance. The article continues by outlying efforts to protect the corridor and provide a buffer between the jaguar’s habitat and human development.

As I read the rest of the article, the phrase “the wanderer has chosen the wrong direction” stuck in mind. The jaguar knew to leave based on the smell of the dominant male, so why not direct him with the same instinctual response to smell, using a pheromone fence to guide his way?

Some questions…

• Could flowering plants be genetically modified to emit the pheromone?
• How could those plants be limited to fencelines?
• Could volunteers spray the pheromones along a fenceline on a regular basis?
• Could human developments which threaten the jaguars be required to provide their own pheromone fence?

What do you think?