June 18, 2012
Flying The Miserable Skies
June 11, 2012
Technology Forecasting Made Easy
It covers almost three decades from 2012 through 2040.
And includes an exhaustive list of technology categories for the following:
- Artificial Intelligence
- Internet
- Interfaces
- Sensors
- Ubiquitous Computing
- Robotics
- Biotechnology
- Materials
- Energy
- Space
- Geoengineering
Further, specific technologies are informed by their:
- Relative Importance--by bubble size
- Consumer Impact--by size of the node's outline
- Related Clusters--by a jagged edge
Additionally, what I really like about their online version is that when you hover a technology, you get a decent description of what it is.
Looking in the out-years, it was great to see cool innovations such as machine-augmented cognition, retinal screens, space-based solar power, programmable matter, and anti-aging drugs--so we'll be overall smarter, more connected, exist in a more energized and malleable society, and live long-enough to appreciate it all. ;-)
Technology Forecasting Made Easy
June 10, 2012
The H2O Coat
Awesome coat called the Raincatch that catches/stores rainwater and purifies it for drinking.
Designed by students at the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction Design (CIID).
The collar of the coat catches the rainwater.
The water passes through a charcoal and chemical filtration system.
Purified water is then stored around the hips of the coat where it can be distributed and easily carried.
A straw is built in and provided for easy drinking.
I like this for its functionality as survival gear and its practicality as a user-centric product.
One thing I would add is a place to put the Coca-Cola syrup to give it a little extra pick me up. ;-)
Very cool--good job!
The H2O Coat
March 17, 2012
Goldman Sachs Reputation Sacked?
It's not that Corporate America is bad, it's just that they frequently get rewarded for doing the wrong things.
All too often, promotions, corner offices, year-end bonuses, and stock options are the rewards for racking in profits, but are not necessarily tied to innovation and/or customer satisfaction.
I believe over the years this has taken many word forms from snake oil salesman, charlatans, spoilers, and many others.
Greg Smith who worked for a dozen years at Goldman--in of all things "recruiting and mentoring"--described the venerable Goldman Sachs as a place where:
- "Interest of clients continue to be sidelined"
- "Decline in the firm's moral fiber represents the single most serious threat to it's long-term survival."
- If you make enough money for the firm...you will be promoted."
- At sales meetings, "not one single minute is spent asking questions about how we can help clients."
- Leaders callously "talk about ripping off clients" and call their clients "muppets," a British slang terms for "idiots."
The funny-sad thing is that after all these horrific accusations, Goldman has not come out and full-on-full repudiated these claims.
On March 15, the Wall Street Journal reported "Goldman Plays Damage Control" saying that "it will examine the claims."
Rather than denying the accusations in specific ways and pointing out their true moral fiber, the Chairman in a memo to employees chose to downplay the accuser calling him only one "of nearly 12,000 vice presidents" of 30,000 employees. In other words, this is just the opinion of a lone wolf.
More generally, the Chairman wrote coyly that this does "not reflect our values, our culture, and how the vast majority of people at Goldman Sachs think of the firm and the work it does on behalf of our clients."
In another article, in Bloomberg BusinessWeek (19-25 March 2012), it states similarly that "Goldman Sachs would have you believe it's learned from the financial crisis. Don't be fooled."
The article goes on to list a scathing history of scandal from Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation that "blew up" after the stock market crash of 1929 to Goldman's settlement with the SEC for a whopping $550 million in 2010. Further, it describes a current conflict of interest case with El Paso and Kinder Morgan that they call a Goldman "heads-I-win, tails-you-lose approach."
While I have always respected the likes of Goldman Sachs for their unbelievable brainpower and talent, the accusations against them and by extension against others in Corporate America is very concerning.
The notion that customers are but idiots for Corporate America to pillage and plunder is not democracy and capitalism, but greed and evil.
When we no longer value a creed of service above pure profiteering then moral bankruptcy is just a prelude to financial bankruptcy.
No company can stay afloat and be competitive over time, if they do not work to strengthen their balance sheets, income statements, and cash flows.
However, at the same time, no competitor can thrive for long on a culture of greed and duplicity that sees people as victims to spoil, rather than as customers to serve.
While I do not know the details of Greg Smith's accusations, this last part I know in my heart to be truth.
(Source Photo: here)
Goldman Sachs Reputation Sacked?
February 28, 2012
The Star Wars Internet
I just love the creativity of this Star Wars-like animation video to explain how we communicate over the Internet (using the guidelines of Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, TCP/IP). From the initiation of the data packets to the transport over the LAN, WAN, and Internet, and through the routers, switches, proxy servers, and firewalls. The data is packed, addressed, transmitted, routed, inspected, and ultimately received. This 13 minutes video explains Internet communications in a simple, user-centric approach. It helps anyone to understand the many actors and roles involved in ensuring that our communication get to where it's going accurately, timely, and hopefully safely. I guess to make this really like Star Wars, we need the evil Darth Vader to (cyber) attack and see how this system all holds up. Where is Luke Skywalker when we need him? ;-) Great job by Medialab! |
The Star Wars Internet
February 1, 2012
App Provides Push-Button Emergency Help
It allows you or a loved one at the push of a button to report a crime.
Once you download the app, you can store your name, phone number, and address (so it's there in case something G-d forbid happens).
Further, you can set the App to report crimes with your information or anonymously and with or without your GPS location.
Then you have a screen that provides you with 9 options for the various types of crime or emergency:
- Theft
- Threat
- Altercation
- Sexual Abuse
- Medical
- Accident
- Vandalism
- Drugs
- Harassment
Click on theft, as an example, the date and time are pre-populated for you, and you have a free text area to describe the incident, and the options to add a photo, video, or audio.
Then simply hit the "push" button to submit to the authorities.
My understanding is that more enhancements to the CrimePush App are in the works such as the ability to shake your phone to activate CrimePush, so the police can find you quickly through GPS.
CrimePush has the potential to help a lot of people and ultimately actually help to reduce crime by having people report instead of ignore, and provide information to the authorities faster, more accurately, and more comprehensively using the various multimedia options to capture the crime and the criminals.
(Source Photo: here)
App Provides Push-Button Emergency Help
January 29, 2012
Platforms - Open or Closed
Many have touted the benefits of open architecture--where system specifications are open to the public to view and to update.
Open sourced systems provide for the power of crowdsourcing to innovate, add-on, and make the systems better as well as provides less vendor lock-in and lower costs.
Open Source -----> Innovation, Choice, and Cost-Savings
While Microsoft--with it's Windows and Office products--was long the poster child for closed or proprietary systems and has a history of success with these, they have also come to be viewed, as TechRepublic (July 2011) points out as having an "evil, monopolistic nature."
However, with Apple's rise to the position of the World's most valuable company, closed solutions have made a strong philosophical comeback.
Apple has a closed architecture, where they develop and strictly control the entire ecosystem of their products.
Closed systems provides for a planned, predictable, and quality-controlled architecture, where the the whole ecosystem--hardware, software and customer experience can be taken into account and controlled in a structured way.
Closed Systems -----> Planning, Integration, and Quality Control
However, even though has a closed solutions architecture for it's products, Apple does open up development of the Apps to other developers (for use on the iPhone and iPad). This enables Apple to partner with others and win mind share, but still they can retain control of what ends-up getting approved for sale at the App Store.
I think what Apple has done particularly well then is to balance the use of open and closed systems--by controlling their products and making them great, but also opening up to others to build Apps--now numbering over 500,000--that can leverage their high-performance products.
Additionally, the variety and number of free and 99 cent apps for example, show that even closed systems, by opening up parts of their vertical model to partners, can achieve cost-savings to their customers.
In short, Apple has found that "sweet spot"--of a hybrid closed-open architecture--where they can design and build quality and highly desirable products, but at the same time, be partners with the larger development community.
Apple builds a solid and magnificent foundation with their "iProducts," but then they let customers customize them with everything from the "skins" or cases on the outside to the Apps that run on them on the inside.
Closed-Open Systems -----> Planned, Integrated, and Quality PLUS Innovation, Choice, and Cost-Savings
Closed-Open Systems represent a powerful third model for companies to choose from in developing products, and which benefits include those from both open and closed systems.
Platforms - Open or Closed
January 20, 2012
Clean Water From A Bicycle
Love this product called The Aquaduct for helping people in developing countries get clean water.
Using the power of pedaling, water that is loaded into the back of the bike is "cycled" through a filter and run into the clean container in the front.
This can be done by actually riding the bike home with the water or refilling the clean container in stationary mode.
The Aquaduct reminds me of some similar products that I saw and blogged about in July at a Peace Corps exhibit that used bicycles for shelling corn and charging cell phones.
What's great about The Aquaduct is that is a simple, all-in-one solution that transports, filters, and stores water--it was the winning entry (out of 102) in the Google Innovate or Die competition.
For 1.1 billion people without clean water in the world, The Aquaduct solves the problem for transporting and sanitizing water.
In Judaism, we say "Mayim Chaim"--that water is life, and this innovative pedal-powered transit and filtration machine can help bring life-saving water to the masses.
Clean Water From A Bicycle
December 29, 2011
Bathroom De/sign Winner
Bathroom De/sign Winner
December 28, 2011
Toward A User-Centric Government
Although the article doesn't use the term user-centric government, this is exactly the point and continuously driving forward with advanced technologies can help us make the leap.
Toward A User-Centric Government
December 18, 2011
Beyond the Four Seasons
Customer service reins supreme and that's not just good business, it's good corporate values.
But reading about the Indian version of the Four Seasons called the Taj--it seems like they have taken customer service to a whole new level.
The Taj which has been operating for more than 100 years (opened in 1903) has 108 hotels in 12 countries, including of course India, but also Australia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and even America (Boston, New York, and San Francisco).
Harvard Business Review (December 2011) describes not just the routine day-to-day service provided at the Taj, but rather how they behaved under one of the most trying events, a terrorist attack.
On November 26, 2008, there began a coordinated 10 attacks across India's largest city Mumbai than killed at least 159 and gravely wounded more than 200. The attack now referred to as 26/11 (i.e. 26th of November) included the luxury hotel, the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower (i.e. the Taj Mumbai).
The Taj Mumbai suffered at least 6 blasts and "stayed ablaze for two days and three nights" engulfing the beautiful domes and spires of this structure.
But while the hotel suffered significant damage resulting in months of rebuilding, the spirit of service by the workers at the Taj was tested to the extreme and thrived.
HBR describes how Taj staff, hearing the blasts and automatic weapons, safeguarded their guests during the attack going so far as "insisting that husbands and wives separate to reduce the risk to families, offering water and asking people if they needed anything,...[and] evacuating the guests first."
The Taj staff did not run out screaming--everyman and woman for themselves, but they not only stayed calm and helpful, but they actually put their guests lives above their own.
This is sort of reminiscent of the firefighters, police, and other emergency first responders on 9-11, who ran up the stairs on the burning World Trade Center to save people--but in this case at the Taj, these were not trained rescuers, they were hotel staff.
In another instance at the hotel, according to the article, hotel employees even "form[ed] a human cordon" around the guests.
This again sounds more like the Secret Service protecting the President of the United States, then waiters and waitresses serving guests.
This is not to say that culture is the driving factor here, for example just this December 9, ABC News reports on how a fire broke out in an Indian hospital and killed at least 89 residents, while the "staff flees" and 6 administrators are subsequently arrested.
So if national culture is not the difference in how organizations and its people treat customers--what is?
HBR explains that it's really a recipe for customer service and user-centricity.
Starting with a "values-driven recruitment system" where the hotel looks for employees with character traits such as respect for elders, cheerfulness, and neediness (this reminds me of a boss I had that used to say she likes to hire employees "who are hungry.").
The Taj follows up their recruitment with a commitment to training and mentoring and empowering employees fully to do whatever it takes to meet the needs of its customers at what it calls "moments of truth."
The values of the Taj go so far toward serving its customers, that they insist that employees actually put customer needs ahead of the company and this is reinforced with a recognition system for those who strive and act for making happy customers.
Is this user-centric orientation limited to just the Taj Mumbai?
Apparently not, when a Tsunami struck at 9:30 AM on December 26, 2004 and killed 185,000 people, the Taj on the Maldives Island affected "rushed to every room and escorted them [the guests] to high ground" and still managed to serve lunch to survivors by 1:00 PM.
Talking about setting the bar high for customer service--how can you beat that?
(Source Photo: here)
Beyond the Four Seasons
December 10, 2011
Nuclear Weapons--A Scary Infographic
Unfortunately, I think many of the ones coming out recently are too jumbled, long and complex and read more like a "Megilla" (no disrespect intended).
I was a little surprised to find a infographic on Nuclear Weapons online, but then again it's not a "cookbook" and hopefully those are not being posted.
This one was interesting to me, not only because of the topic of weapons of mass destruction, but also because in 11 factoids, the graphics takes you through a pretty clear and simple overview of the subject matter.
No, its not getting into the physics and nuclear engineering depths of the whole thing, but at the same time, you have starting with the Manhattan Projects in the 30's, some nice history on the following:
- Invention
- Cost
- Types, both fission and fusion
- Testing
- Use
- Inventories, although based on recent articles on the 3,000 miles of Chines tunnels in the Wall Street Journal (25 October 2011) and Washington Post (30 November 2011), the Chinese number may be way too low--the WSJ based on Chinese media reports has it as high as 3,500!
- Even numbers "lost and not recovered"--11!--not comforting, who would've thought?
In the graphic, it would be interesting to see a breakdown by land-, bomber-, and submarine-based, (some nice graphics available for that) but perhaps a number 12 item on the infographic would've been getting too much in the weeds.
Also, a similar graphic for chemical and biological weapons while interesting, would be scary indeed.
(Source Graphic: here)
Nuclear Weapons--A Scary Infographic
November 13, 2011
Designer Bobigner
Designer Bobigner
November 1, 2011
Replacing Yourself, One Piece at a Time
Replacing Yourself, One Piece at a Time
October 16, 2011
Human Evolution, Right Before Our Eyes
Human Evolution, Right Before Our Eyes
September 17, 2011
Peepoo, It's All In The Bag
Peepoo, It's All In The Bag
September 2, 2011
Vizualize Yourself
I tried out this new visual resume online called Vizualize Me.
Vizualize Yourself
August 7, 2011
Computer, Read This
For example, there is the Ninetendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect in the gaming arena, where we control the technology with our physical motions rather than hand-held devices. And consumers seem to really like have a controller-free gaming system. The Kinect sold so quickly--at the rate of roughly 133,000 per day during the first three months--it earned the Guinness World Record for fastest selling consumer device. (Mashable, 9 March 2011),
Interacting with technology in varied and natural ways--outside the box--is not limited to just gestures, there are many more such as voice recognition, haptics, eye movements, telepathy, and more.
- Gesture-driven--This is referred to as "spatial operating environments"--where cameras and sensors read our gestures and translate them into computer commands. Companies like Oblong Industries are developing a universal gesture-based language, so that we can communicate across computing platforms--"where you can walk up to any screen, anywhere in the world, gesture to it, and take control." (Popular Science, August 2011)
- Voice recognition--This is perhaps the most mature of the alternative technology control interfaces, and products like Dragon Naturally Speaking have become not only standard on many desktops, but also are embedded in many smartphones giving you the ability to do dictation, voice to text messaging, etc.
- Haptics--This includes touchscreens with tactile sensations. For example, Tactus Technology is "developing keyboards and game controllers knobs [that actually] grow out of touchscreens as needed and then fade away," and another company Senseg is making technology that produces feelings so users can feel vibrations, clicks, and textures and can use these for enhanced touchscreens control of their computers. (BusinessWeek, 20-26 June 2011)
- Eye-tracking--For example, new Lenovo computers are using eye-tracking software by Tobii to control the browser and desktop applications including email and documents (CNET, 1 March 2011)
- Telepathy--Tiny implantable chips to the brain, "the telepathy chip," are being used to sense electrical activity in the nerve cells and thereby "control a cursor on a computer screen, operate electronic gadgets [e.g. television, light switch, etc.], or steer an electronic wheelchair." (UK DailyMail, 3 Sept. 2009)
Clearly, consumers are not content to type away at keyboards and roll their mice...they want to interact with technology the way they do with other people.
It still seems a little way off for computers to understand us the way we really are and communicate. For example, can a computer read non-verbal cues, which communication experts say is actually something like 70% of our communications? Obviously, this hasn't happened yet. But when the computer can read what I am really trying to say in all the ways that I am saying it, we will definitely have a much more interesting conversation going on.
(Source Photo: here)
Computer, Read This
August 4, 2011
Google+ And A History of Social Media
Bloomberg Business (25-31 July 2011) tells in biblical terms the history of social media leading up to the recent release of Google+:
Google+ And A History of Social Media
July 30, 2011
Federal Register On Steroids
Federal Register On Steroids