New Florence. New Renaissance.

Vonage and Santa

Happy Thanksgiving!

Vonage Customers, here’s something fun for the holidays …..

"Now through Christmas Eve, your kids can call Santa Claus and tell him what they want for Christmas! It's so easy. All you have to do is enter your details (on this page) and once you hit Submit, your phone will ring and you will be connected to Santa's workshop. Your kids will love hearing Santa's holiday greeting and can leave a message telling him what they want for Christmas this year.

The message will be sent to the email address that you provided. This way, you will know exactly what your kids wished for this year. You can also forward the audio attachment to other family members and friends, or even save it as a keepsake.

Don't forget to check back on December 24th after 5:00PM EST. Enter your details again and you will be able to track Santa's whereabouts as he delivers toys around the world!"

Recorded Future

Recorded Future is financed with $8 million from the likes of Google’s venture arm and In-Q-Tel, which makes investments to benefit the United States intelligence community, and its clients have included government agencies and banks. Its products include a $9,000-a-month service for hedge funds that plugs Recorded Future’s insights into their trading networks.

There are both direct and indirect insights. Expected news, like a meeting or filing, can create volatility in stock prices. Recorded Future predicts five days ahead of time. Insider selling of shares, correlated with expected layoffs or corporate restructuring, tends to suggest a 2 percent decline over the value of a stock in the following 30 days. One intelligence agency has requested that the company identify stories in the China Daily newspaper that are significantly longer in their Chinese version, compared to the English ones, on the assumption that the one for the domestic audience is offering more detail and nuance for a reason.

New York Times

The Surveillance Arms Race

Documents obtained by The Wall Street Journal open a rare window into a new global market for the off-the-shelf surveillance technology that has arisen in the decade since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

The techniques described in the trove of 200-plus marketing documents include hacking tools that enable governments to break into people’s computers and cellphones, and "massive intercept" gear that can gather all Internet communications in a country.

The Wall Street Journal (sub required)

Next book excerpt – Chapter 5 – Convergence, Crossover and beyond

I am excerpting on this blog roughly 10% of my next book, The New Technology Elite due out in February (and available for pre-order on Amazon – see badge on left) .  The text is going through the publisher’s edits and subject to change. Here are some excerpts from Chapter 5.

Traditional technology buyers are learning to become technology vendors as we saw in Chapter 1. Many vendors are replacing buyers as the new best practice leaders as we saw in Chapter 2. Welcome to the world of the technology “buyor” – the switch-hitter good at both sides of the baseball plate as the legendary Mickey Mantle.

Ambidexterity is a skill valued in many other sports. There are the soccer players who can fire rockets with either leg, cricketers who have mastered the “reverse sweep”. They look as elegant as Bjorn Borg did when he dazzled the tennis world with his two handed backhand on his way to multiple Wimbledon wins. They are the drummers who can use all four limbs to magical effect in a band.

Not just in sports – Michelangelo is supposed to have painted the Sistine Chapel with both hands (and it still took him years).

Ambidexterity in technology can be just as dazzling.

********************

Donald E. Graham, Chairman of the Washington Post Co. which dates back to 1877, says it has become easier for companies to become technologically ambidextrous in the last decade. While traditional media has been decimated by technology, the Post has become a diversified technology company. Its Kaplan unit is one of the largest on-line education companies. Its Cable One unit is one of the largest cable companies in the US and services a number of rural communities. It has digital properties like Slate. It has invested in startups like Avenue100 which provides marketing analytics to institutions, Trove (previously iCurrent) a social news site and aggregator and SocialCode, which helps companies with Facebook advertising and user engagement campaigns.

(In a throwback to the huge influence the newspaper had in the 70s in bringing down the Nixon Presidency with its investigative coverage of Watergate, when it launched its iPad app in 2011, the Post created a humorous video of a befuddled Bob Woodward being pulled away from his trusty typewriter and asking his editor, Ben Bradlee about the allure of the iPad)

Graham also sits on the board of Facebook and is arguably more tech-savvy than the average CEO or Chairman. Modestly, though, he says it has become a lot easier for companies to hire technology talent like Vijay Ravindran, his Chief Digital Officer who was involved with Amazon in its formative years and with other startups..

Graham’s view ‘Increasingly we can offer talent like Vijay equally challenging problems to solve as do technology vendors”.

Vice Versa, technology vendors have been hiring from the corporate world to streamline their own operations. “The conventional wisdom on high-tech vendor CIOs hasn't always been of the highest order. There are but a few "rock star" CIOs leading high-tech vendors' IT efforts. Most notable are HP's Randy Mott and Microsoft's Tony Scott. However, when the right CIO falls into the right situation, the combination can be powerful for both vendor and customer: A peer CIO who knows the lay of the land ( IT governance, project management and political challenges that IT leaders face) as well as the guts of the vendor's software (what it can and cannot do). It's the proverbial "Eat Your Own Dog Food" situation, espoused by many technology leaders.”

**********************

If you talk to sports coaches they will tell you “the earlier (in life) you start switch-hitting, the better.'' It is a lot harder later in life to get the upper-lower body coordination needed to be comfortable hitting a baseball or kicking a soccer ball from either side.

In May 2011 The Thiel Foundation announced fellowships to 24 recipients “younger than 20 years old at the end of 2010—each will receive $100,000 and mentoring under the condition that they stay out of school for two years to build their businesses.” “The grant winners are pursuing a range of businesses, from alternative energy to education and e-commerce.”That’s Thiel as in Peter Thiel, co-founder of PayPal and successful investor in a string of successes such as Facebook, LinkedIn and others.

And Thiel clearly subscribes to what the coaches say – ‘start them young”.

Take a look at Spanning, based in Austin, Texas whose stated goal is to become "the Norton Computing of the cloud computing era". They want to be the provider of all of the things that should have come "in the box" with modern cloud applications like those from Google, Microsoft, and Salesforce.com, but didn't. They are well on their way with tens of thousands of customers in 58 countries and just six full-time employees.

Charlie Wood, one of the founders describes the journey.

*****************************

Whether you start early or later in life, switch-hitting is not easy. Ted Simmons, a coach for the San Diego Padres has been quoted as saying “I also have yet to find a person that completely, totally, unequivocally has bilateral symmetry. One side is always dominant……I've asked concert pianists if it helps them to be ambidextrous. They told me, 'No. It's just that the left hand is trained.' They don't switch pianos for left-handed people. But they switch guitars for left-handers. Jimi Hendrix was left-handed. He switched wires. But being ambidextrous doesn't help as a guitarist.”

And of course, there is need for more practice – not favoring either side means working out more. Then there are the mood swings as one side slumps from time to time. Lance Berkman, considered one of the best switch-hitters ever is on record saying “If I could do it all over again, I would not be a switch-hitter.”

Similarly, becoming a technology “buyor” is not easy. If you are in Indiana or in Indonesia, how do you acquire the DNA of Silicon Valley? On the other hand how do you bring grocery chain frugality to a software company used to 90% margins?

**************************

Some companies are starting to emulate the Silicon Valley model. Let the VP of R&D or Product Engineering develop products and let the CIO focus on internal technologies. As an example, Daimler, the leading auto and truck manufacturer has over 1,000 software engineers in their R&D group as different from hundreds others who support internal IT systems like SAP.

There is another good reason to think of R&D more than IT when it comes to new product development. Gina Staudacher, partner at the accounting firm of Baker Tilly advises clients about R&D Credits and how to structure such product development projects.

*************************

Enterprises are finding that they need “crossover” executives who can bring a blend of skills – vendors are hiring talent from user organizations; user organizations are hiring talent from vendors and startups.

A good example comes from the continuing competition between Walmart, the largest retailer in the world and Amazon, the leading on-line retailer. In 1999, while Amazon was still a fledging player, Walmart sued it for hiring several of its technology and logistics executives. While the suit was settled, it reflected Amazon’s building of a strong team across various organizational areas. The year prior, it had acquired a startup called Junglee which had pioneered Internet comparison shopping. That acquisition brought it two of the co-founders Venky Harinarayan and Anand Rajaraman who were influential in its formative years. While they did not stay long, they continued to broker to Amazon a number of other startups.

Fast forward to 2011. Walmart bought another startup Harinarayan and Rajaraman had started called Kosmix. They are now running @Walmartlabs "to speed with innovations such as smartphone payment technology, mobile shopping applications, and Twitter-influenced product selection for stores" to give Walmart a chance to narrow the widening lead Amazon has in on-line retailing.

Examples of other crossover executives - Tony Scott, CIO at Microsoft went there after stints at Disney, GM and Bristol Myers Squibb and in the other direction and Vijay Ravindran, the Chief Digital Officer at Washington Post who did stints at Amazon and other startups. Scott and Ravindran write about their crossover experiences in the next section.

******************

The conversations in most technology communities these days is around cloud computing, virtualization, “big data” analytics, service oriented architectures, security concerns around LulzSec. Clearly, every technology group needs a wide variety of technical skills, either on staff or contracted.

But to get to Rogow’s “business arbitrage” and to Cote’s “consumer mindset”, the technology group needs to be far broader - focused on the 12 attributes we cover in Part II. Elegance in product design, global in customer nuance analysis and supplier diversity, ability to stand out in social media and in physical settings, dramatically increased “clockspeed” and many more facets.

To continue with the switch-hitter analogy – they cannot just be good hitters – they are much more valuable if they are also good fielders, they are quick enough to steal bases, and possess other athletic abilities. Similarly, a soccer player who can kick well with both feet is also expected to play good defense. The elite are multi-dimensional.

Correlating TV to social media

Every day, Bluefin ingests video from 200 television networks, representing about 90 percent of the programming viewed by U.S. audiences . It also captures the name and time of the show, the names of characters and actors, and closed- captioning text of the show’s dialogue. It tracks advertisements as well. Machines detect ads; humans electronically tag new ads, and video fingerprinting technology detects and tracks repeat airings.

MIT Technology Review

Photo Credit

The GE Advantium oven and app

In time for Thanksgiving...

The GE Advantium oven cooks foods up to eight times faster than a conventional oven (Advantium uses intense halogen light combined with microwave energy to bake, broil, roast and even grill food — fast, with no preheating).

With the new Advantium app, the home cook now has a convenient, easy-to-use reference guide at his or her fingertips.

• GE and Advantium users have created hundreds of recipes — everything from appetizers to main courses — and posted them online. Home chefs are invited to add their own recipes, too.
• With the Advantium iPhone app*, your shopping list for ingredients is always with you.
• Once home, the app serves as a quick and easy way to find information, such as cooking times, conversion recommendations and preparation tips for your favorite foods and recipes.
• The app includes videos on creating your own recipes, using the Speedcook controls, and clean-up made easy.
• The app integrates with the timer on the iPhone, so you can simply set the timer on the app and forget it while you multi-task.

Photo Credit

Technology for your RV

Have you been in an RV recently? Flipping through an issue of Motor Home, I was impressed with all the tech customized for the motor home market including

Dish Network’s HD TV for the road

Rand McNally’s Tripmaker RVND 7710

nVision RV Tire Monitoring System (in photo)

RV Security System

Polychute RV Sewer Hose

and on and on….

Next Book Excerpt – Case Study 4 - Estonia’s "Tiigrihüpe" - Tiger Leap

I am excerpting on this blog roughly 10% of my next book, The New Technology Elite due out in February (and available for pre-order on Amazon – see badge on left) .  The text is going through the publisher’s edits and subject to change, but each chapter has a case study or guest column. Here are some excerpts from the case study in Chapter 4.

“George Washington”

“George Washington”

“George Washington”

Rein Krevald is using a heavy accent as he mimics his late grandmother’s answers to every question on her US citizenship test. The Immigration Officer had every reason to fail her. Instead he chuckled at the grace of the lady and said “Welcome to the United States”

Krevald, born in the U.S., continues reminiscing about his family with roots in the tiny Baltic country of Estonia.

“It occurs to me that my parent’s success when they arrived in the U.S. in 1947 and Estonia’s success after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 had a very significant common denominator: Starting with a blank slate!”

“When my parents arrived in the US, they had absolutely nothing material to their names……but they both had an education. My mom was a pharmacist and my father had been a lawyer in Estonia. It was almost impossible for them to aspire to their previous careers in this country. Being open minded towards any opportunity that came along, my mother launched a successful career as a cosmetic chemist (she ended up with numerous patents to her name) and my dad ended up working for CitiBank in New York.”

“When Estonia regained its independence it also was starting from scratch……..the average Estonians had suffered during the Communist regime (even though the Soviets had secretly assembled their first computer and designed their first space mission in an Estonian research park), but to the best of their ability had kept up with the rest of the world especially through watching Finnish television”

The capitals of Finland and Estonia are just 50 miles away as the crow flies. Before the Soviet takeover of Estonia, the countries had roughly similar standard of living. Over the next 50 years, the Finnish per capita income was estimated at seven times as much.

“Same with the country after the Soviets left - decisions had to be made quickly but starting from square one made it easier”.

Agrees Jaan Tallinn, one of its founders of Estonia born Skype, the company which revolutionized VoIP calling and which Microsoft bought in 2011 for $ 8.5 billion.

"Because we started anew, we got new laws, new leaders, and new technology….The big winners were the start-ups."

**************

As BusinessWeek wrote in 2007: “Few countries are as crazy about the Internet as Estonia, and no capital city can keep up with Tallinn on that count. All schools are connected to the Internet; more than 90 percent of all bank transactions are conducted online; and there are more mobile phones than residents.”²¹

One of the architects of this digital society is current President (then Estonian ambassador to the US) Toomas Hendrik Ilves, who in 1996 proposed a “Tiger Leap” for the country The tiger moniker was in recognition of the “Asian tiger” economies which had blossomed using technology.

Krevald grew up with Ilves and was in the same Estonian boy scout troop in northern New Jersey. “You could tell he was into technology even back then. He and his father would be working on radios and electronics when the rest of us were running around in the woods playing with sticks”

***********

Tiina Krevald, who has been in technology since 1994, before the Tiger leap initiative, and now works for Microsoft in the country (and is Rein’s second cousin) describes her family’s digital lifestyle:

“- We have free Wifi everywhere. In practically all public establishments from hotels to gas stations there is a public wifi that is free of charge or for a small fee. I travel around the world, and nowhere is web access so easy – and usually it costs so much.

- I can do all my banking on-line 24x7, even sign contracts digitally with my resident ID card (the card has a chip that not only holds information about the card's owner, but also two certificates, one of which is used to authenticate identity and the second to render a digital signature.)

- My tax declaration took 5 minutes this year. Everything popped up on-screen pre-filled (my income, my donations, my tax exemptions for my young kids). I only had to check the accuracy of data and press the confirmation button. Shows the power of a flat tax, and the level of automation of the tax system.

- Ballots -. Took me another 5 minutes to cast my vote. In the 2011 parliamentary elections 140000 voters (25% of the total) used this convenience

- I pay for parking using my mobile phone. The charge shows on my cell phone invoice. It’s available all over Estonia in public and private parking zones.

- Our medical and real estate records are digitized and very easy to access in our state registries

- Via e-School I can check on my kids’ grades, their absence from classes, the content of lessons, and homework

- Our prescriptions are digitized from the doctor to the pharmacy – so no lost paper scripts, or handwriting transcription challenges”

Photo Credit  Enterprise Estonia for Skype phone booth at Tallinn airport

"Moneyball Marketing"

The best marketers are geeks says Larry Popelka in this BusinessWeek column

"Glaceau Vitamin Water—another Moneyball success story—grew from zero to more than $350 million in revenue in six years without traditional marketing. The company tried many different approaches and found that sampling events targeted to young, active adults efficiently converted new users, despite a huge budget disadvantage vs. Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Coke eventually bought Vitamin Water for $4.2 billion—the equivalent of almost 10 percent of Coke’s market cap.

A key advantage of Moneyball Marketing is that it is difficult for competitors to track. They often can’t see or copy your success until it is too late to respond.

Amazon.com is the king of all Moneyball Marketers and is so stealthy that Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has often stated that Amazon has “no marketing department.” What the company does have is hundreds of analytics geeks, running perhaps the world’s most sophisticated marketing effort—monitoring the performance of online and offline ads.

 

James Dyson – the serial disruptor

Arranged next to the walls: Dyson's inventions. Here are the Dual Cyclones, his suction-retaining vacuum cleaners; the water-scraping Airblade hand drier; the non-buffeting Air Multiplier fan. Today, he shows off a new addition to his oeuvre: a portable fan heater, the result of three years' hard engineering. It's called the Dyson Hot (in photo) and he hopes it will make traditional versions a thing of the past.

Dyson's modus operandi is to reinvent everyday products whose design has calcified into a standard that he believes to be flawed. "Doing a Dyson", as his approach has become known.

Wired.co.uk

Photo Credit