In the Great Lakes region (home to 10% of the world's fresh water) we don't think about water that much - unless it's watching Michael Phelps swim.

We turn on the tap and a nice flow of clean water always comes out. But we are unique and fortunate in that regard.

Lou McMahon thinks about water all the time. Lou is an environmental lawyer who specializes in water issues.

In the first part of this 2-part interview, Lou explains the great value in the liquid gold to our North and why other areas of the country and world lust for it. He also lists the numerous natural and man-made threats to this precious resource and what we need to do about it.

Grab yourself a nice cold glass of H2O and take a listen.

Project Management - Software as a Service - Green Initiative - Entrepreneurs - Immigration - China - you can't escape these topics in the business world today.

Gary Baney, CEO of Boundless Flight is involved in all these hot areas. In this podcast, Gary gives examples and some very frank opinions as to what we need to do to reach our potential as a region and as a nation.

You may have heard terms like FAT, FAT32, NTFS, cluster size and partition and have glossed over them. File Allocation Tables sound like a "too-techie-let's-ignore-it" component of computing but they are the foundation of your hard drives functionality.

Greg Hayes of Raxco Software was a Microsoft MVP for Windows File Systems for 5 Years. He knows this stuff so that you can get by with glossing over it. If you want to learn more, take a listen to Greg in this podcast. It's a little more techie than some but worth the time.

How many times have entrepreneurs heard that they need to:

• Work on your business not in it,
• Trust your key people and
• Leave your comfort zone to grow
?

Those are the basis for countless business books and seminars. But it's much easier to read about then to put into practice.

It wasn't easy for Aztek CEO John Hill either. But by leaving his comfort zone - literally and figuratively - and with a not-so-subtle push from a key employee, John led Aztek to a spot where they can reach his vision of growth.

Not to mention a great view of the Flats, Lake and Browns Stadium.

Providence House, Ohio's first licensed crisis nursery, offers emergency shelter to children newborn through five years old actively living in crisis. Since 1981, Providence House has provided quality, center-based, family focused residential care to over 5,000 infants and children in crisis.

Hear/watch how the Cleveland Indians Wives have stepped up to the plate for Providence House.

Michael Gerber wrote the business classic the E-Myth back in 1981. He updated it with The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What To Do About It in 1995.

Gerber's focus is on the small business community and entrepreneurs and with over 6 million new businesses started each year in the US and 90% of them failing within 5 years, his help is obviously needed.

Any basketball fan knows the accomplishments of NBA Hall of Famer Bill Walton.

Big Red played center for John Wooden at UCLA compiling an NCAA record 88 consecutive game winning streak. Walton was the number one overall pick in the 1974 NBA Draft and won 2 championships as well as the NBA's Most Valuable Player in 1978.

I had to ask him about LeBron James but also about Austin Carr who, with his Notre Dame teammates played a big role in Walton's UCLA career.

A few years ago, a merry band of adventurers from Bob and Dan's Excellent Adventures went to see the Robotic Roaches at Case Western Reserve University.

Case Biologist Dr. Roy Ritzmann showed us some live roaches and then the robots they were working on to emulate some of the motions and characteristics. Such robots can be used in search and rescue missions and other activities where it is dangerous or impractical or impossible to send a human.

It's amazing to see how the field has progressed in the last few years. At a demo at the Great Lakes Science Center, Dr Ritzmann's colleague Dr Roger Quinn told of the combined work of the world class biologists and engineers who came to Cleveland for a conference.

Jane Hyun is the author of Breaking the Bamboo Ceiling. The book suggests that Asian Americans are not reaching their full potential in the workplace.

In her City Club speech a few months ago, Jane Hyun talked about the rapid growth in Asia and what that would mean to the global economy. But her main focus was on getting people and companies to work better with Asians and Asian-Americans by increasing their cultural vocabulary and fluency.

In the late 1970's, Cringely joined the Homebrew Computer Club and met Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. They invited him to join their new company, Apple.

This began Cringely's journey into the now-historic early days of the PC industry. His experiences at Apple (he created the Trash Can icon!) led to writing a column for InfoWorld, the book Accidental Empires and numerous PBS special on those early days.

Wikinomics was a first introduction for many to the world of Web 2.0. Williams spoke at a tech event at CWRU on Wikinomics and the Future of Education.

It’s fascinating to see Web 2.0 brought into a variety of disciplines such as education. When Case Dean Barbara Snyder spoke she commented on the broadcasting of the event on SecondLife joking, “If I’m an avatar, I want final approval.”

In this interview, I asked him a couple of the nagging questions about Web 2.0.

Northeast Ohio was named one of the 7 most intelligent communities in the world for 2008 based on the world-class One Community project. Gangnam District, Seoul, South Korea was ultimately named the Intelligent Community of the Year for 2008 but top 7 is not too shabby.

And the CEO of One Community, Scot Rourke, was named visionary of the year - an outstanding achievement which reflects well on OneCommunity, Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. In this podcast (with videos) you'll learn more about Scot and One Community. And hey, be proud, we are one of the 7 most intelligent communities in the world!

What is the global broadband economy and what does it mean for a region?

Robert Bell of the Intelligent Community Forum came to Cleveland recently to announce that Northeast Ohio is one of the 7 finalists for the 2008 Intelligent Community of the Year and to honor OneCommunity CEO Scot Rourke as its 2008 Intelligent Community Visionary of the Year.

In this 2-part podcast (with video), Mr. Bell discusses the opportunities and challenges that regions, such as those in the Great Lakes, face. With a rust belt mentality, and geography being almost irrelevant in the broadband economy, how do these communities adapt? And what happens if they don't?

When Carly Fiorina was announced as the Victory Chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC) last month it was a coup for the party. Fiorina is a well-known superstar in the business and technology world.

When she was CEO, or She-EO as some called her, at Hewlett-Packard, she was named 'The most powerful woman in business' by Fortune Magazine.

Her current role as Victory Chairman for the RNC and Senator McCain's campaign brought her to Ohio and the Great Lakes Geek show.

What's the only country that entered the 21st century with more trees than in the 20th century? Where was Instant Messaging Developed? Where are the most biotech startups per capita?

These are just some of the interesting bits you will learn from the exhibition Israel: Yesterday Today and Tomorrow at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Believe it or not, the state of Israel is turning 60 years old. While it may seem that the exhibit would be of interest to seniors who were around back in 1948 or just to Jewish people, Museum Executive Director Judi Feniger tells us that they worked hard to make it interesting for people of all ages, races and cultures.

You can do everything right with your business but still have problems crop up. Who could predict a massive power outage (remember a few years ago?) or a storm on the East Coast causing your supplier to be shut down.

That's why you need to do some Business Continuity Planning. Part of that planning is to be prepared for Crisis Communications and that's where expert Bruce Hennes comes in.

In this podcast with Bruce, we'll learn a little about Business Continuity Planning and a term that was new to me - dark web site. Bruce gives his opinion on anonymous blogging and offers some advice when a word slips out that you wish hadn't.

There's a lot going on at the newly named Progressive Field this year. Business people may be particularly interested in the new Champions Suite.

The suite has a great mid-field view and can accommodate up to 60 people. It has state of the art HD televisions, presentation equipment, comfy and workable furniture and, besides the view of the field, it's decorated to give off a successful vibe - with graphics from the Indians greatest teams. And the food and beverage in the suite goes way beyond hot dogs and peanuts.

Listen to Bob DiBiasio explain what's new for 2008 and watch some short videos of Bob and the new Tribe mascots.

Developers Developers Developers. You don't have to be a programmer to know how much Microsoft values developers.

Videos of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer addressing a huge crowd of developers are everywhere on the Web. It demonstrates his and the companies passion for coders.

Developers will be pleased with the new release of Visual Studio 2008. It adds a lot to make developers more efficient and productive and provides tools to make every app "connected."

Listen in as Microsoft Developer Evangelist Bill Steele tells us what all the excitement is about with Visual Studio 2008. And for those of you who aren't programmers, he'll define some terms you may have wondered about - like Ajax and Silverlight.

To many people, Microsoft means Windows and Office. But to IT professionals, developers and larger companies, Microsoft means back office products and developer tools for the enterprise.

That's why the launch of updates to 3 of the main back office products - Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 - is such a big deal. The Cleveland launch took place at the Key Marriot on Thursday March 13th. About 2,000 IT professionals, developers and business people attended the launch to learn more about these new releases.

These products are the backbone of many businesses. And the technology has evolved so that people who are more business adept than techie can use the tools. As you will hear in our first podcast, for example, SQL Server 2008 is important for that trendy business term - Business Intelligence.

Since our first podcast with Crisis Communications expert Bruce Hennes, times have changed. Camera phones are ubiquitous, for example. Just ask Kramer/ Michael Richards.

That's why Bruce tells his clients to assume that everything is or will be out there for the public to view.

In this first of a new 2-part interview with Bruce, he explains the difference between PR and Crisis Communications. He'll give some advice about spinning the truth and why reporters have a different framework to work from then what we might expect.

And then he'll tell us how people can spend $21 million dollars on a state issue and get blown away 3-1 because they didn't understand the basics.

A green Chemical company? Isn't that an oxymoron?

You might not think of a chemical company as part of the green movement but the Lubrizol Corporation is working hard to be green.

They are also working on another business buzzword - sustainability.

In this podcast, Dave will introduce a few new terms and show how a behemoth chemical company can work toward sustainable relationships with its employees, community and environment.

You think you have a crisis at work? How would you like to have been a new employee at Arthur Andersen when the proverbial stuff hit the fan?

Suzanne Drake started at Andersen working on marketing and communications 1 week before the firm was indicted.

You probably don't have to face crises like indictments, Enron and WorldCom but that doesn't make your company's problems any less important to you. Listen and learn about managing a business crisis from someone who has been there.

You know the face and the voice. But if you think that Tim Taylor is one of those pretty-boy talking heads that just read from a teleprompter, think again.

Tim was recently inducted into the Cleveland Press Club Hall of Fame and he deserves the honor. When Tim Taylor was a young reporter he was suddenly faced with world-changing stories: Sam Sheppard, Kent State, Apollo 13, Carl Stokes, the Hough Riots, the assassination of Martin Luther King and more.

This was before satellites and today's behemoth news industry. Listen to how a young man from Buckeye reported through amazing times - and how the news industry has changed.

Madeline Manning-Mims was one of the first female American middle distance stars of world-class caliber.

She was recently honored by the Cleveland Cavaliers and told the Geek how she was inspired by Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph and how she was 'tricked' into the 800. She also talks about politics in the Olympics.

If you really like your sports, movies, TV shows and other items from the content cloud, Sling has a product for you. The classic SlingBox, the new SlingCatcher and the next release called the SlingBox Pro HD all allow you to easily watch your content when and where you want to.

Hear more in this podcast from the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show.

You will also hear a great SlingBox story involving CWRU CIO Lev Gonick and the Cleveland Browns.

Bill Gates announced last week that he would be stepping down from day-to-day activities at Microsoft this year. His keynote address at the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show was his last.

We've all heard many tales about Bill Gates - the fast cars, how he supposedly didn't practice the best personal hygiene habits, how his temper would flare up to intimidating levels and so on. But is all that urban myth or a reality?

As Microsoft COO, Bob Herbold worked closely with Bill Gates and offers his own perspective on working with the man and the Microsoft culture.

The last that many people heard from Michael DeAloia was that he left the position of Tech Czar of the City of Cleveland.

In this podcast we learn why he left, what he's doing now and about his new venture with GreatLakesGeek.Com.

Oh yes. You can still call him the Tech Czar.

After 26 successful years at Procter & Gamble and, more recently, 8 years as COO of Microsoft, you would think that Robert Herbold would be a likely candidate to be Seduced by Success, the title of his latest book.

In this podcast, Bob Herbold explains how strategy can surpass timing and luck in business.

He also questions the proprietary nature of Apple and their iPod and tells what is in Steve Jobs' blood.

Arun Gandhi is a grandson of Mohandas Mahatma Gandhi. He lived with his grandfather for 18 months starting in 1946 and learned many valuable lessons.

At a presentation called The Meteoric Rise of India, Arun Gandhi shared stories about his famous grandfather and told of a lesson he learned after a John Wayne double feature.

Tips and Tricks. We all want to learn the secrets to save us time and effort.

In this podcast, Mr. Excel Bill Jelen offers up 2 of his favorite Excel tips and tells about a free resource with an archive of almost a quarter million Excel questions and answers.

Read more and listen to Mr. Excel Bill Jelen

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Does this scenario sound familiar? You have high-speed Internet access at your house. You also have 2 or more PCs at the house and you'd like to share music, movies, pictures and other files.

You also wish you didn't have to worry about backing up the PCs and wish there was some way you could access your important files securely over the Internet from anywhere in the world.

There are millions of homes that fit this scenario. Microsoft has a new product developed just for this case. It's called Windows Home Server and as our guest Brian Gorbett says you don't need to be a techie to install or run it.

From his landmark Supreme Court legal case to his long and distinguished career as a US Congressman, many know about Louis Stokes and his brother Carl Stokes, the first black mayor of a major city in the US.

You may not know how a pair of brothers from the projects of Cleveland could attain such success.

In this interview, we tap into the decades of experience and wisdom from Congressman Stokes and learn his thoughts about recent history, Cleveland, the region and what he would tell young people.

You may know him as the Minister of Culture in the Plain Dealer. Maybe you know him as former Brown's Beat reporter Chuck Heaton's son or TV star Patricia Heaton's brother.

But once you read Michael Heaton's new book, Truth and Justice for Fun and Profit, you will know Michael Heaton in a new way.

In this interview, Michael Heaton discusses some of the wide and wild variety of characters he wrote about and some of the riveting stories that he covered.

You will hear his thoughts about modern day journalism, blogs and the future of newspapers and the state of Cleveland.

And how some very expensive beers led to his friendship with Joe Esterhas who wrote the forward to the book.

Mentors can be extremely valuable to a business person.

Getting a chance to talk to and learn from someone who has already done it - and done it well - can be gold.

There are more men available to be mentors than women. Should a woman look for a male mentor? Should a man look for a woman mentor?

Cathy Horton tells us.

With an aging population that wants to not only live longer but live healthier, health has become a key growth industry. The Great Lakes Region, and Cleveland in particular, are fortunate to have some of the best facilities and physicians in the world in our own backyard.

Each year, Cleveland Clinic hosts a Medical Innovation Summit and the 2007 summit was special. Not because talk show host Larry King and a slew of other media bigwigs participated. But because the focus was on Cardiovascular Technology - the State of the Heart.

Cleveland Clinic just received its 13th consecutive # 1 ranking from US News & Word Report for heart care.

In this interview the director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, Chris Coburn, speaks about some of the highlights of the summit, the amazing medical breakthroughs that are being developed and a new $250 million Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center.

Ten years can be an eternity in the Internet age. Ten years ago, Google didn't even exist and Comdex attracted 225,000 attendees. So for a technology firm to last and grow through all the changes that 10 years can bring, it's a real achievement.

John Hill started Aztek 10 years ago and has learned a lot in this past decade. Among his first lessons learned were to treat his employees well and to treat his clients well.

In this podcast you'll hear more about what John has learned these past 10 years - including his claim that that "the web developer position does not exist."

Read more and listen to John Hill

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Ask an experienced Excel user for a list of the most powerful and valuable features of Excel and the Pivot Table will undoubtedly be on the list.

Power Users have come to rely on the tool that can turn 50,000 rows of data into a comprehensive one-page summary with just 6 mouse clicks.

Hear more about Pivot Tables and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) from the ultimate Excel Power User, Bill Jelen - Mr. Excel.

Read more and listen to Mr. Excel Bill Jelen

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Business ethics. Some would say that term is an oxymoron.

The recent public exposure of business malpractice - from the unethical to the criminal - has drawn attention to the some of the cut-throat practices in the business world.

How does someone balance their own personal sense of ethics with such behavior at work?

Let's Ask Cathy.

The Great Lakes Region has a plethora of organizations to help businesses and entrepreneurs. It's hard to keep track of them all.

The ones that are most valuable focus on a particular business segment. The Entrepreneurs EDGE specializes in middle market companies. Their focus is on starting or growing companies that have the potential to sell outside the region and bring dollars in.

In this interview, Kirk Nieswander explains what makes Edge different and the programs they have in place to build those businesses.

Read more and listen to Kirk Neiswander

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Reggie Jackson is known as Mr. October for his prodigious feats on the baseball diamond during crunch time - October. Bill Jelen is known as Mr. Excel for his knowledge about and passion for spreadsheets - particularly Microsoft Excel.

In this series of podcasts, Mr. Excel will take us through the history of the spreadsheet, talk about popular and powerful Excel features and weigh in on the new version of Excel in Office 2007. And he'll share some of his favorite tips.

Read more and listen to Mr. Excel Bill Jelen

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We've all heard the characteristics that make up a good business leader - a dominant personality, forceful and swift decision making, powerful, almost aggressive, behavior and so on.

But does that hold true for women as well as men? Cathy Horton Panzica tells us in this edition of Ask Cathy.

As business people, we sometimes dismiss the arts community as fluff - not the hard asset that it really is. Cleveland Councilman Joe Cimperman has been ahead of the curve in understanding that art and culture should be intertwined in the business districts.

Whether it's the resurgence of Tremont, due in large part to the Tremont Arts Walk or the community arts corridor in the St. Clair-Superior neighborhood, art helps revitalize an area. As Cimperman says, "People don't want to live in a place that's boring."

Councilman Cimperman's attitude toward the city certainly isn't boring - and his enthusiasm breaks free as he ends this short interview by bursting into song. You've been warned.

John Chambers, CEO of Cisco Systems said, "The two great equalizers in life are the Internet and education."

Though the Internet and Tech worlds have changed, one thing that seems constant is the increasing demand for skilled tech talent and an insufficient supply - especially in the Great Lakes Region.

In this interview, Gene Longo of Cisco Networking Academy tells us what they are doing to populate that pipeline with skilled talent.

Gene was in Cleveland for the Cisco Networking Academy Conference which attracted instructors from all over to learn more about this ambitious and productive program.

Oh yeah, President Bush was speaking just down the hall too.

Len started his company in 1989 at the age of 23. He has gone through a lot of changes in that time - as the industry has changed dramatically. Today, Brulant is one of the leading interactive marketing and technology firms in the nation with amazing growth, including 100% in 2006.

In this series of podcasts with Len we will hear about the early days and the history of the company and how as Len says, "Tough times makes tough companies."

More with Len Pagon of Brulant

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Sometimes the techie buzzwords can get in the way of learning about a really useful business tool.

Microsoft Sharepoint might be just the tool your business needs so we asked Sharepoint expert Paul Stork for some business scenarios, in non-techie terms, that would benefit from the software.

You can compete in business in one of 3 ways: Operational Efficiency, Product Leadership and Customer Service.

In a competitive market such as grocery stores, you need more than low prices to compete and succeed.

Jeff Heinen, CEO of Heinen's Fine Foods tells us how any business can compete and in what areas.

NEOSA has undergone some changes in the last few years as it has become the technology arm of COSE. It's good to see some of the best NEOSA efforts coming back - such as the Best of Tech Awards.

In these 2 interviews, we learn more about the Awards and the future plans of NEOSA straight from the top - Lou Licata, chairman of COSE and Brad Nellis, Director of NEOSA.

There's an old marketing adage - If you haven't communicated with your customer in the last 90 days then they are not your customer anymore.

There's really no excuse in the Internet age to not have an effective communication strategy with your customers and prospects.

In this interview, Kristy Amy of OnMark Solutions offers us some advice with e-mail marketing including Subject Lines, testing for different e-mail clients, metrics and analytics and more.

Online Marketing is an extremely powerful and cost-effective way to build and retain business. If you know how to do it right. Dan Rose's vision at Precision Dialogue is to "do online marketing right."

You may remember Dan as a co-founder of Vantage One. Over the years, Dan has built up an expertise in online marketing.

In this interview, Dan shares some strategies on this important business function. He talks about segmentation, niches, what to do with all the data you collect and offers a link for visitors to download free educational whitepapers.

When you combine the importance of marketing with the cutting edge and powerful tools that the Internet offers, you get eMarketing.

Brad Kleinman was the visionary behind the first annual eMarketing for Entrepreneurs Conference.

One of the interesting parts of the conference was how they used the eMarketing tools and techniques that were taught throughout the conference - eMail marketing, podcasts, RSS, blogs, search engine optimization, on-line surveys, mobile marketing and other eTools - to sell out the conference.

How would you like to leave your office tonight and when you came in tomorrow morning hundreds of your Windows XP or 2000 or 98 PCs were migrated to Windows Vista? And all your familiar icons, favorites, applications, printers set up - were still there.

Sound like a dream? Altiris, now part of Symantec, provides just that service. They will do a premigration readiness assessment and turn a potentially huge migration headache into a smooth process. If you have a lot of Windows PCs and are dreading a lengthy, costly migration, here's a solution for you.

What does Art have to do with Business and Technology? More than you may think.

Art also plays a large role in how a community is perceived by its residents and the rest of the world. Steve Hartman left a successful career in Finance to follow his passion for art and established The Contessa Gallery.

Steve understands what art can mean to a city and his sponsorship of the Louise Bourgeois “Spiders” sculptures in Cleveland is a testament to that.

Hall of Famer Bob Feller is arguably the greatest right handed pitcher in the history of major league baseball. He holds a ton of records and what is more impressive, he gave up several prime years of his career to serve in the military during World War II.

In this quick Opening Day preview we'll hear from Rapid Robert about Heritage Park and the city of Cleveland, we'll talk to a couple of the guys responsible for the construction of Heritage Park and we'll hear from the Indians' Bob Dibiasio who tells us about some business person's specials you won't want to miss and more.

Is it fair to have high school girl's teams play at 4PM while the boys play at 7PM? Should the sports programs that bring in the most money get new uniforms more often?

These and other issues fall under Title IX of the Education Act of 1972. With the NCAA Women's' Final Four being held in Cleveland, legal scholars and policy makers gathered to discuss the 35 years of Title IX.

Senator Birch Bayh was a co-author of the legislation and a driving force behind it. The Great Lakes Geek caught up with him at the Billie Jean King speech at the Wolstein Center (text and photos here) and the Senator explains why Title IX was and is important to him.

He could sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. She could sell you the Brooklyn Bridge and make you glad you bought it.

We all know the type of superstar, maverick salesperson who was "born with" the personality to close the big deals. But that maverick might not be the best fit for your company's sales approach.

Jill Mason-Miller of Innovision Strategies explains that sales is a process, not a person - even a superstar.

Many of us accumulated stacks of vinyl LPs over the years, not to mention audio cassettes and even 8-track tapes. But we may not even have a turntable hooked up to our stereo anymore. Some of you younger readers are asking "LP? 8-track? Stereo? What's he talking about?"

Now we listen to our music in digital format - CD or mp3 or Internet stream - but something digital. Acoustica has a great product that lets you import all that old vinyl and tape into digital format for CDs or mp3 players. It removes those annoying pops, clicks and hiss so you can listen to your old favorites again.

As you will hear, it's easy to use for newbies but audiophiles can get in there and tweak settings if they so choose.

Everybody knows Google. The word has become part of our culture's vocabulary. Most people know it as the giant Internet search engine.

But Google also has a slew of technology that can be ported to businesses, large and small, for in-house intranet searching, collaboration and visualization technology.

Kevin Gough is part of the Google team that is, as he said, "barnstorming" the country to let people know that while Google has great consumer benefits, they offer business solutions as well.

And no, he didn't give me any stock options.

As networks become more essential in the small office and in the home, you need fast, secure and easy-to-use hardware. I've used D-Link products for years for exactly those reasons.

Three of the new products I like were being show at the Consumer Electronics Show. In this interview, D-Link's Mike Scott tells us about these components that will enhance your home/small office network without requiring you to take classes and read manuals.

Elliot B. Ross, co-founder of The MFL Group, was previously head of McKinsey & Company's worldwide marketing practice.

During his 15-year tenure at that firm, he became its thought leader in proactive pricing management, authoring articles in several journals, including the Harvard Business Review.

In this interview, Mr. Ross explains List Prices and why you should avoid them in your business.

AMD and Intel have been competing for years on CPUs and other technology - all to the benefit of the industry and consumers.

In this interview Scott Shutter, Division Brand Manager of AMD's Mobile Division, tells the Great Lakes Geek about the ATI acquisition, Windows Vista and about a combination CPU/GPU in the works.

You will also hear about the mobile world - how mobile PCs compare to desktops and what users are looking for and how AMD is meeting those needs.

The Greater Cleveland Sports Awards were created in 2000 by the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission as its annual fundraising event. It is the biggest sports show in Northeast Ohio, honoring the best and brightest in the area's amateur and professional sports.

Good Morning America Anchor Robin Roberts emceed the event held in the Renaissance Hotel Grand Ballroom.

Listen to what Robin has to say about women's athletics

Microsoft Windows Vista is being launched around the country and world. The tour hit Cleveland on January 23rd at the Renaissance Hotel to an SRO/waiting list crowd.

There are so many new and improved features in Windows Vista - many of which, like the Aero Interface, have been written about extensively.

So the Great Lakes Geek grabbed Microsoft Across America presenter extraordinaire Matt Hester in between presentations and they talked about their Top 3 favorite new features in the new OS that maybe haven't received as much press as some of the others.

See photos and listen to interviews about the latest and greatest products being shown at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Lots of gadgets and cool geek toys for sure but also some interesting products that can impact your business and the industry.

CCF Innovations is the Cleveland Clinic's technology commercialization arm with a mission to "benefit the sick through the broad and rapid deployment of Cleveland Clinic technology."

Chris Coburn leads CCF Innovations and has overseen the creation of hundreds of new inventions and about 20 new companies in the last 4 and ½ years.

In this interview, Chris talks about the Clinic and about that ubiquitous buzzword "innovation" from the CCFI perspective. He gives us a look inside this years Medical Summit and speakers, including the Top Ten Innovations of 2006, and a preview of the 2007 Summit which will feature a strong suit of the Cleveland Clinic - Cardiovascular.

Chris, a passionate bicyclist, also talks about what he learned from a Tour de France cyclist at the Summit.

Entrepreneur Jack Kahl took a commodity tape business and turned it into a multi-million dollar, best-of-breed company. Along the way he learned valuable lessons about business - and people.

Jack's story is truly a David vs. Goliath tale as tiny Manco matched its "Duck Tape" against the giants at 3M and other competitors.

Conversations with Kahl is a new feature on GreatLakesGeek.com where Jack will share some of the lessons he learned in his rise to the top, recall stories with business legend Sam Walton and others and give advice to current and future entrepreneurs.

What are you wearing?

No, it's not one of those creepy late night calls. What you wear can drastically influence how people perceive you and how far you go in the business world.

It may not be fair but appearance does matter and all those clichés like "You never have a 2nd chance to make a first impression" or "Dress for the job you want, not the job you have" - are actually true.

Men in general are less astute in the style and fashion world so in this interview, Kristen answers some nagging business fashion questions and offers advice for the fashion-challenged.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi, … 17 Mississippi. Stop! That's the amount of time you have to tell your doctor your problems in an average office visit.

Health Care is a huge industry. When you combine our increased demand for health care with the efficiencies of the Internet, you can see how On-line Health Care is going to be a large part of it.

I spoke to an early adopter of online health care at the Cleveland Clinic 2006 Medical Innovation Summit and in this interview, we learn a lot about on-line health care and why the medical establishment doesn't like it.

100, 301, 302, 404 - Hike! No these aren't football signals. These numbers are important to your website though. It isn't enough that the tech world is loaded with buzzwords and acronyms - we have to throw numbers into the mix to confuse people even more.

In this interview, we get the scoop on these numbers, and what they mean to your web design, from SEO guru Jan Limpach.

Collaboration is one of the big buzzwords in the industry. There's also a lot of buzz about Microsoft Sharepoint - a tool for working collaboratively. Unfortunately, there's also a lot of confusion about the product.

In this interview, Paul gives the basics of Sharepoint - Sharepoint 101 - telling us 3 words that describe the product. Paul also quotes Spiderman as he looks at some end user issues with the product.

Voice over Internet Protocol offers many advantages - more features, mobility and expandability and 30-45% cost savings over standard phone systems - but there are also concerns regarding reliability, 911 service and quality.

In this interview, Mike gives us the basics of VOIP - and tells about those funky Ohio.net cows.

Debbie's background includes twenty years of Fortune 500 experience as an IT and enterprise IT security manager with Intel Corporation, across the US, Europe, and Greater Asia.

In 2001, she left Intel and started her own business, Sapphire-Security Services LLC, focused on security strategy and management.

In this interview,Debbie tells us how security concerns have changed over the last 25 years.

She explains the opportunity in security careers and discuss certifications, strategies and women in IT and security careers.

September 29, 2006 Interview

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Gary Baney has had a distinguished career in IT as an award-winning (Top 100) CIO, an IT Professor at a major university and now Founder and CEO of his own company.

He is a Risk Taker and a Change Agent and you may very well be uncomfortable listening to some of the blunt ideas that Gary espouses in this interview. And that's fine with him.

He knows that a company or city has to move out of their comfort zone and go beyond good and work towards great. Just as we need to not only forgive but encourage risk takers who have had some failures, we need to break free from the "mediocre mentality" to compete in a global and virtual economy.

In this interview you will hear Gary's ideas about business, academia, Cleveland, China and more. And he'll tell you about a new technology concerning the tokenization of thoughts as opposed to using words that would make business independent of language.

How does a helicopter test pilot and vodka tonic drinker go on to become a restauranteur with 1000 employees and the leader of a World Tour of Beer?

In the competitive world of food service, John Lane and the Winking Lizard crew have steadily grown to 12 locations and 1000 employees.

It's not all beer, chicken and ribs for John Lane. Listen for some useful business advice including how to adapt, like a lizard, to your business environment.

Jim Louderback is an Alpha Geek. He gets to see and play with the latest and coolest technology months before the rest of us even hear about it.

From the birth of the PC to just a few years back, the PC was the undisputed center of the computing world. But lately the PC is just another component in our connected tech lifestyle.

In this interview, Jim tells about the updates, some cool new stuff and how tech is pervasive in our real world.

August 17, 2006 Interview

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10:03

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Knock Knock. It's the TV news investigative team at the door shoving a camera in your face.

Crises in business are inevitable. Do you know what to do when things go wrong and the media is waiting for you?

Bruce Hennes does.

In this interview, Bruce Hennes gives expert advice and examples on dealing with those inevitable crises.

August 8, 2006 Interview

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12:28

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Where is that file?

The Great Lakes Geek's first hard drive was a whopping 5MB in size. Now 250 GB drives are common and inexpensive. The trick today is to be able to quickly and easily access the information you need from all that data.

In this show, Matt Hester tells us about the free Windows Desktop Search that lets you search your drive(s) as easily as you search the Internet.

You'll also learn about some free resources and Matt's favorite tech movie.

August 1, 2006 Interview

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13:40

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Geeks Love Databases. That's not a bumper sticker, it's a fact.

Capturing and storing data is not enough. The rewards come from the Business Intelligence (BI) that your company can gather from strategic queries and reports from your data store.

In this interview, Bob tells us when, why and how to migrate from Access to SQL Server and explains the BI features of an enterprise solution.

July 26, 2006 Interview

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16:17

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A lot of people would think it's a hopeless task to try and teach technical skills, even server level stuff, to inner city high school students.

But Dan McMillan from Glenville High School and other dedicated people like him have proven those doubters to be wrong.

The numerous success stories of these kids, when given a chance to succeed and the expectation to succeed, testify to that.

In this interview, Dan talks about how and why he does it and shares some success stories.

June 17, 2006 Interview

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9:12

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Can a city be cool? Thomas Mulready, founder of CoolCleveland, thinks so.

He didn't set out to make Cleveland cool - just to reveal some of the coolness that is already there. And he has 30,000 passionate weekly subscribers to back him up.

In 2005 Mulready co-founded the Cleveland Ingenuity fest and 75,000 people showed up. In 2006 it's even bigger and better.

In this interview, Thomas talks about what's cool, why Cleveland is cool, the Ingenuity Fest, CoolCleveland e-news and even some cool Cleveland music.

July 6, 2006 Interview

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18:06

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With 25 colleges and universities on 32 campuses in Northeast Ohio and an annual budget of $2.2 billion, higher education is a major industry that often goes unnoticed.

The Northeast Ohio Council on Higher Education has a variety of programs for both students and businesses.

From internship programs to opportunities to reach the $300 million that the students spend each year, it's time to tap into this market to grow your business and the community.

In this interview, Dumont Owen explains this large local industry and describes various resources and opportunities to help you benefit from it.

June 27, 2006 Interview

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14:45

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So you want to find out some information about an Ohio business. You go to Google or MSN or Yahoo and start searching. But there's a better and easier way.

Using a local web directory called OhioBiz.com, you can quickly and easily search over 50,000 Ohio businesses by Zip Code or SIC code or other useful business criteria.

In this interview, Mark tells us how and why OhioBiz got started and why, if you are an Ohio business or want to do business with an Ohio business, the OhioBiz database is a great place to start.

June 23, 2006 Interview

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15:32

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What's the next big thing in the Software world?

With more than 12,000 customers, partners, journalists, industry analysts, and Microsoft staff converging on Boston for Tech·Ed, Microsoft's largest annual customer conference for IT Pros and developers from around the world, you may be able to get an idea.

Paul Stork, who worked on one of the labs at Tech-Ed and called in from Boston, gives a feel for the show and what the most popular tracks were.

Maybe one of those will be the next big thing.

June 16, 2006 Interview

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7:21

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Viruses, Trojans, worms, spam, spyware, rootkits, phishing, pharming and on and on.

The malware industry has come a long way from the (mostly) harmless viruses of the early PC days when hackers showed their programming skills.

International virus expert David Perry has been involved in malware since the first PC viruses were created. He worked at Norton on Norton Antivirus and at McAfee and now is at Trend Micro, which offers solutions primarily for the enterprise.

In this interview, David tells the Great Lakes Geek how most malware is the product of organized crime - and what can be done about it.

June 2, 2006 Interview

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14:15

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The Rust Belt. Cheap overseas labor. Unions. Lack of skilled workers. Environmental regulations. China.

You would think that manufacturing is merely a part of the history of Cleveland and other cities in the Great Lakes region. Certainly not part of our future.

Listen to her advice as to how Northeast Ohio and the Great Lakes region can again be that "somebody".

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Still listening to Classic Rock? Turned off by the profanity and misogyny in Hip Hop?

Kris Koch of Num Num World Music suggests that we broaden our horizons and try listening to some different kinds of music.

In this interview, Kris gives the Geek suggestions for music in the office, while exercising and even some music for kids that may not drive adults crazy. And the Geek comes back with some picks of his own.

Aaargh! Why did all those visitors abandon our web site without completing the transaction? We tested and re-tested and know there aren't any errors.

The web analytics software is showing lots of hits but we aren't getting conversions. What's going on?

TeaLeaf Technology is a California based company that offers a solution to let you "view" the http traffic so you can see when and why a visitor baled on the site.

In this March 23, 2006 Interview (5,394 KB - 5:45), Paul Mackowick explains how TeaLeaf is like Tivo for your website.

Steve Potash is CEO of OverDrive, Inc., a leading provider of enterprise Digital Rights Management (DRM) and associated digital media solutions enabling the management and distribution of premium digital content over global networks.

OverDrive's web-based services enable the secure distribution of eBooks, digital audio books, and other digital media throughout multiple channels.

In this interview, Steve explains DRM and the various options for accessing digital content - whether it is text, audio or video.

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Connie Atkins is the Executive Director of the Consortium of African American Organizations (CAAO).

In this interview, Connie tells where CAAO has been and where it is going now that it is 5 years old.

She also descibes how black people were "trained in the 60s not to trust each other" and how CAAO is working to change that.

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Hyland Software serves as a role model for tech companies - proving everyday that a world-class, international software company can operate and thrive outside of the typical locales such as Silicon Valley - in fact, in Cleveland, Ohio.

In this interview, Bill Priemer, Chief Operating Officer of Hyland Software, explains their product - OnBase. He also talks about the company's roots and some ideas that have made them so successful.

And if you are cruising Westlake and see a car sporting a "My kid is an Honor Employee at Hyland Software" bumper sticker, you'll know why.

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These two short-but-sweet shows feature fellow geek Paul Stork.

The first is a brief recap of Paul's experience when he was at his office in the Peter B. Lewis Building when the gunman broke in a few summers ago. Technology helped keep him connected to the outside world, including to the Great Lakes Geek, while he was trapped in his office. It's not a new story but it's still compelling.

The other episode is a preview of the next version of Microsoft Office. With the new ribbon user interface and new file formats, you will need a new mindset and may have some transition issues with the upcoming version. Learn about the interoperability with older versions, XML and free and low-cost Office alternatives. And say goodbye to Clippy.

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In this fan-to-fan interview, Larry Dolan speaks about the greatest Cleveland Indian ever - and answers a baseball question he has never been asked before.

He predicts how modern players would do against stars of the past and what it takes for small-market teams to compete and win against teams like the Yankees who seem to have an unlimited budget.

Mr. Dolan discusses Chief Wahoo and why he has remained in Cleveland for most of his life.

And, much to the delight of the Great Lakes Geek, he has a special word for his brother, Cablevision Chairman Charles Dolan.

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When attorney Cathy Panzica returned to Cleveland after 15 years in London she was dismayed at the state of the City. While many would have merely complained - after all, you can't fight City Hall - Cathy decided to make some changes - revolutionary changes - in town.

Cathy started a group called the Red Room Revolution and has become a powerful and outspoken force in the local business and tech community and as such, has been the focus of much curiosity, praise and criticism.

This show will satisfy your curiosity - about the Red Room Revolution, Panzica Investments, the City of Cleveland, former Mayor Jane Campbell, women in leadership and more.

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Have an innovative idea? We all have but most just remain ideas. Cleveland is fortunate to have an organization whose sole purpose is to provide guidance and even funding for innovative ideas that will help the community.

The Civic Innovation Lab will give you guidance from expert mentors and up to $30,000 to turn the idea you are passionate about into a reality that positively impacts the economy of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County.

In this episode the Geek interviews Jennifer Thomas (remember Cleveland Clicks?) the Director of the Civic Innovation Lab.

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How does a self-proclaimed "pop culture Renaissance Man" from Boardman Ohio become the Technology Reporter at Ohio's largest newspaper?

In this episode, the Great Lakes Geek turns the microphone around and interviews Plain Dealer Technology Reporter Henry Gomez.

You will hear how Henry defines his tech beat - it's not just IT - and the best way for your company to get some coverage either in print or on his popular blog.

Listen to who is on Henry's interview wish list and his opinions on print vs. online and the Cleveland tech scene.

And find out if the Geek really does have PCs older than Henry.

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Are you an expert in the field of patent law? Me neither. But it's an important area in the technology world. And growing more important every day.

In this show, Rollie Cole, Executive Director of the SPI, says that when you consider the number of patent applications filed and the number of examiners available, the examiners have about 7 hours to look at a patent application. That's not very much time for complicated technology. Especially when the patent examiners are not experts in Information Technology or Nanotechnology or other evolving areas.

Learn about this important issue and what the SPI is doing about it. Also, learn about a national think-tank located right here in Great Lakes Geek territory in Indianapolis.

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While iPods and other MP3 players are a great convenience and a useful/entertaining tool, with improper use they can cause serious damage to your hearing.

World-renown hearing expert Craig Newman, Section Head of Audiology at the Cleveland Clinic, offers advice and a simple rule of thumb, the 60/60 rule, to prevent such damage.

It's a short podcast but a very important one so be sure to share it with your friends and family who don't feel completely dressed without earbuds in their ears.

Listen now - while you still can

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Longhorn, Vista, IE7, Avalon, Bitlocker, Indigo, and so on. What are these things and what do they mean to you?

The next version of Microsoft Windows - called Vista - will be on store shelves in late 2006 and it is a significant upgrade that may require some hardware upgrades to take full advantage of all the features.

Network admins and techies will like some of the new features like bitlocker encryption, a new networking stack and having users run as regular users rather than admins. All users will be introduced to a new user interface and other new, cool features.

Learn about Vista from Brian Gorbett, Technology Specialist at Microsoft now so you can start planning for this major release.

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A Google search for Hard Hatted Women will prompt Did you mean Hard Headed Women?

And in an era when women still make about 71 cents for every dollar that a man earns, local non-profit Hard Hatted Women strives to train, advocate and support women in non-traditional jobs that often offer more pay, benefits and security than some others.

While most of the jobs targeted are in the construction trades, the group is also getting into training for A+ certification for the IT world and Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) training.

In this interview, the Great Lakes Geek wonders why boys and girls have the same interest and aptitude in math and science till about age 13 and why so few women are in the lucrative IT world. Is there a Silicon Ceiling?

Then the Geek speaks to 4 Hard-Hatted Women and learns how their organization helps women in and into non-traditional careers.

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Paul Stork has a wide and varied knowledge about PCs and Information Technology. He's been messing with computers for 35 years or so.

But did you know that you could mess with, or actually put to productive and cost effective use, many different "computers" with different operating systems, hardware and software without having a separate piece of hardware for each?

That's the basic idea behind Virtual Machines.

In this interview, Paul explains what a Virtual Machine is and why you and your company may want one. He also looks at the 2 main players in the market - Microsoft and VMware - and explains how they have different approaches.

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