Here are a couple of independent science fiction films available for download for free.

http://www-fi3.starwreck.com/

Star Wreck is a full-length science fiction parody created by five Finnish student filmmakers, featuring over three hundred cast and crew members.

http://www.panicstruckpro.com/revelations/

Star Wars Revelations is a non-profit Star Wars fan film featuing studio-quality CG effects that was produced entirely by volunteers.

http://www.pandora.com/

The Music Genome Project is an in-depth study of music to capture the identity of a song.  Over 5 years, the project carefully studied songs from over 10,000 artists and assembled data which they categorized into genes.  Each gene defines a characteristic such as melody, harmony, arrangement, and lyrics which combine to form the unique identity of a song.

The MGP has released Pandora, an interactive internet radio station which recommends and plays songs based on your likes and dislikes.  Entering a simple search term for an artist or song you like, and the internet radio station will offer artists it thinks you may also like.  Simply click on the currently playing song, select Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down and the recommendation will continue to be tailored to your tastes.  You may discover some songs and artists that you hadn’t heard before.

I am constantly amazed at what things people can accomplish.  We live in a world where we can achieve amazing things with the proper blend of genius, willingness, and tenacity.  Our world is filled with examples of people who have had the right combination of skills and succeeded despite the doubts of everyone around them.  The truth behind the American Dream is that we all have the power to succeed.  Some of us may define success a little differently, but the truth remains.  Anything can be possible.  Our world is full of examples.

I find it odd that, for the most part, we only recognize a certain kind of success.  We only seem to celebrate success as it pertains to talent: musical, athletic, artistic, acting, and the like.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of newspapers, tabloids, magazines, and web sites dedicated to the study of talented celebrities’ lives.  Each year, there are dozens of awards shows where the best in the entertainment industry are given trophies in recognition of their work and millions tune in to watch.  Athletes have playoffs, championships, all star games, and trophy ceremonies with the same purpose and response.  Our society reveres this kind of success.

Shows, like American Idol, further demonstrate that not only do we worship this type of success, we also think that it is easily and readily attainable.  Thousands of contestants try out for American Idol under the deluded belief that they have what it takes to be the next great singing sensation.  Granted, American Idol may not be the final judge of talent and the amount of talent attributable to any successful recording artist is open for debate, but for the most part, the music industry is comprised of very talented people.  In general, the entire entertainment industry is.  Talent doesn’t come easily, and often no matter how hard a person tries, they can’t overcome a lack of it.

The other kind of success is attainable; it can be attained through hard work and determination.  It comes from setting a goal and achieving it.  It can mean the difference between life and death; it can change the world.  It can lead to massive fortunes, or simply fill you with satisfaction.  It isn’t a hollow, empty kind of success, and there aren’t any awards shows to glorify it.

If you took a poll and asked people which they thought were more likely if they were given a chance: they could become CEO of a major corporation or they could land the title role in next summer’s big blockbuster, how do you think they would answer?  I’d be willing to bet they’d pick the latter.  It’s easy to believe that we were born with some hidden talent that’s just waiting to be discovered.  It’s harder to accept that we were born with everything it takes to succeed if we had only given it our all.  Most of us can cite a celebrity or two who was discovered working in a coffee shop or lounging on the beach.  Fewer can cite a CEO who started with nothing.

Michael Dell started with nothing.  It seems awkward to say “nothing” without clarifying further.  Michael Dell wasn’t born a rich man; he didn’t inherit a fortune.  His parents didn’t own a corporation and he didn’t climb the corporate ladder of an existing business; he built his company from scratch.  If you don’t already know or haven’t already guessed, Michael Dell is the CEO of Dell Computer Corporation.  He started with little more than an idea and turned it into an immensely successful business.  In 2005, Forbes 400 ranked him the ninth richest man in the world with a net worth of about $16 billion.

In 1983, Michael Dell was a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, studying Biology.  His father and grandfather were both doctors and he acknowledges there was pressure to follow in their footsteps, “while my parents didn’t say I had to be a doctor, it just seemed like a good idea at the time.” He was strong in math and sciences, but his interests continued to migrate away from medicine and toward computers which had fascinated him since junior high school.  Realizing an opportunity, Dell decided he could sell customized computers direct to consumers.  The personal computer market was catching on with the general public, but retailers were slow to meet its growing needs.  They sold standardized, generic systems which could only be modified through after-market upgrades available through select fringe publications, a daunting task for all but the hard core user.

Realizing an opportunity was only the first step in Dell’s business model; he needed an inventory of low cost systems.  After some investigation, he found that retailers were sometimes sitting on large inventories of PC’s.  Through some backdoor deals, IBM frowned upon retail sales to resellers, he managed to purchase systems at wholesale cost.  Retailers were able to liquidate their excess inventory and Dell got his systems at significantly reduced prices.

Initially, Dell’s customers came from friends and university colleagues, but soon demand increased through word-of-mouth advertising.  By 1984, he was selling $50,000 to $60,000 worth of customized systems each month from his dormitory room.  In hindsight, it’s clear he had tapped into a lucrative venture, but at the time, his parents saw it as a hobby, a hobby that was beginning to interfere with school work.  Confident and determined, he struck a deal with his parents to attempt the business full time during his summer break.  “The deal was, I would start into business full time in May and at the end of August we would take a look and decide if it was doing well,” he remembers.  He rented an office in town, hired friends to help with the assembly, and incorporated in May 1984 as “PCs Limited”.

When summer break ended, Dell dropped out of school without telling his parents and never looked back.  “After a while they got over it.  It helped that I started the company right away and that it took off very quickly.” He began targeting doctors, attorneys, and small business owners who would agree to pay half the money in advance to cover inventory costs.  Soon, he was able to use these initial customers as references to expand his business.  “We sold $180,000 worth of ‘box’ [PC systems] the first month, then $265,000, and after nine months had sales of $6 million. It was very rapid growth.” By 1985, the company expanded to about forty employees and began assembling its own computer designs.  Dell continued to put in eighteen hour days and often slept on a cot in his office.

Two important things distinguished Dell from his competitors.  For one, he offered a toll-free number for technical support, the industry’s first.  Secondly, he offered his customers on-site support.  Dell handled the difficult task of providing this level of support in his own unique way.  “We had two options: we could train and man a national service force, a very expensive proposition, or we could make a deal with someone who already had such a force and provide training to their people to fix our computers.” He made a deal with Honeywell Bull who provided nation-wide repair service for Dell until 1989, when Xerox took over the contract.

Dell has continued to show his resiliency over the years, adapting his company to the times.  He changed the company name in 1987 to its present name, Dell Computer Corp, to capitalize on his growing image and reputation.  He weathered a drop in memory prices that significantly affected his on-hand inventory costs and delays in 486 chip production that further stunted growth.  Subsidiaries in Europe were also slow to bloom.  “We made some mistakes, but we also had the strength to work our way out,” Dell admits.  Dell’s strength was considerably increased after he began selling his computers over the internet in 1996 which quickly amounted to over $6 million in sales per day.

Through it all, Dell has remained grounded.  When asked about his personal life, he says, “I’m pretty average.” He still lives in Austin, Texas with his wife and four children.  And when asked about his success, he adds, “Everyone has their own definition of success. For me it’s happiness. That’s the most important thing. Do I enjoy what I’m doing? Do I enjoy the people I’m doing it with? Do I have time to be with my family and do things I like? That’s what it’s all about.”

"Talent alone won’t make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready. The most important question is: ‘Are you ready?’”
Johnny Carson