Entrepreneurs: Spikes

There are some entrepreneurs who end up super duper rich. There are many who end up doing quite well. There are numerous whose businesses do not see the light of day. These spikes are necessary. Entrepreneurs are indispensable to the market system. And markets are fundamental to democracy. No market, no democracy.

Over the long run, it is a progression for society at large. Society overall gets richer and richer over time, unless you are Zimbabwe under Mugabe. That genius has actually managed to create an ever shrinking economy. (Wash Mugabe Away With A Revolution)

It is for the democratic process to decide on the rules of the game. But within those rules, entrepreneurs are free, the best ones end up looking reckless. Much creativity is involved. Much risk taking is involved. Often much is at stake. But in the end, it is about creation. It is a progression.



In a well-oiled, functioning political system, the politicians are background noise to the entrepreneurs. There is strategic lobbying, sure. If you are leading the pack in your industry, maybe you know things. And the public servants need to hear. But other than that, the world of business is a galaxy all its own.

Entrepreneurs are almost a different species. The entrepreneur's worldview is different than that of the jobholder. Early stage entrepreneurship can also have some interesting stories to it.

A few hours back I registered my company: JyotiConnect Inc. I want to be a Spike. Godspeed.

In The News

HP and Dell slug it out in Second Life Brisbane Times
Book Review - Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the ... Blogcritics.org How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company ...... founders' innovation in both new products and new ways of doing business created an environment in which customers wanted only HP products, employees reciprocated the loyalty HP showed to them, and future Silicon Valley generations tried -- and usually failed -- to follow in their footsteps. ......... for almost 50 years they partnered at the top of the organization they founded ...... the family atmosphere that came to be known as "the HP Way." ...... a roughly 10-page document that lays out a blueprint for entrepreneurial success. ....... meeting at Stanford, where Dave Packard was the tall, gregarious, can't-miss golden boy sports star and Bill Hewlett was a short, dyslexic, somewhat reserved sort still getting over his father's untimely death ...... shared interest in electronics ..... Hewlett and Packard baked HP instrument panels in Packard's oven and randomly priced their first product in such a way that it was impossible to make a profit ....... worked hard throughout HP's ascendancy to create a family atmosphere, and this is perhaps their greatest legacy ........ handing out bonus checks to employees based on Hewlett-Packard performance and having Friday "beer busts" to let off steam ...... flex time ..... avoiding mass layoffs by sacrificing revenue in favor of employees keeping their jobs ...... from that garage partnership to an incorporated small business to corporate behemoth so smoothly, always with an eye on profits, sentimental toward their employees but never sentimental toward products that no longer make the cut.
Hack-a-Mac - security vulnerability found in Apple's Safari heise Security
Laser equipped laptop! Toshiba’s new Satellite P205 Gadgetell
Taiwan market: HP aiming for 20% growth in business notebooks this ... DigiTimes
Round Two: Intel's Fortunes Rise, and AMD's Fall IT Jungle
Cisco to give lift to Telstra Australian IT
SAP Selects Cisco TelePresence System for Virtual Meeting Experience Web Services Journal
Google Is Riding On The Marratech Express Internet Financial News
Google Buys Video Conferencing Software IDM.net.au
Google rises at Yahoo's expense ZDNet
Yahoo, Slate and Huffington Post to Host First Online Presidential ... Wired News
Microsoft gaming labelled a "disastrous endeavour" Inquirer
IBM Powerizes Linux on Intel apps Register
Face Off: Business Objects vs. Oracle (and Microsoft) Intelligent Enterprise
The New Dotcom Bang: Will Sun Microsystems Shine Again? Seeking Alpha
Wal-Mart Learns Lessons with Organic Foods Reuters.uk
Helen Walton, widow of Wal-Mart founder, dies at 87 Houston Chronicle
Charlie Rose To Host First Online Presidential Debates Search Engine Watch
LA Times to cut up to 150 employees as print revenue declines San Jose Mercury News
Report: Chinese WiMAX Market Will Grow Seven-Fold Between 2009 RF Globalnet (press release)
London Goes Wireless Government Technology
The Future of Wireless Broadband - 3G, 4G, WiMAX.. Who Knows WiMax.com

Search: Much Is Lacking

Search as is is not good enough. If you can't find what you are looking for, as often happens. The user is not in control enough.

Search is especially poor on the multimedia front. You have to find a particular site, and then search around inside that site, often you have to be a registered user to make use of the stuff offering.

There is no one place where you can go to search through all photos online, no one place to look for audio and video clips, all of them, no way you can zero in like you might zero in onto a map, zoom in, zoom out.

It would be nice to be able to zero in on content providers based on their geographical location. That would really help.

There is not enough standardization. All of the web is not being shown as one search space. Participating sites would benefit. If you make it easier for users to find you, that is good business, right?

Ad offerings will have to get creative if the ad model is to be the primary revenue generator. Tiny ads. This photo brought to you by Coke. Can you say that in an inch in length, and 1/10th that in width, maybe in less? Of course, you can see the Coke logo which, if you click on takes you to the Coke website, perhaps.

Multimedia search as it stands is primitive.

1. Make it super easy for users to create and store media.
   
2. Make it super easy for users to find media.
   
3. Make it super easy for users to share and consume media, to display media on their own sites.
   

So the emphasis has to be on standardization of search so as to make it as easy as possible for search to happen. Maybe content providers and search engines should actively collaborate to that end. And the way to maximize sharing is to rely on the ad model. The average user wishes to be able to display for "free." And that is where the big money is, in the "free" zone.

Say if I took a photo, and uploaded it at some photo sharing site like Flickr, and I had the option to let just about anyone to display that image, as long as I could have that little link ad, that maybe links back to my own site, I would be okay. What about you?

Revver has a pretty good model for video.

Textbooks are game. Textbooks also have to be offered like media. Ad supported. Maybe disable copy and paste, at the author's discretion.

The average web user is going to want to produce content. Right now search is chaos. What is the GPS version of web search?

Advanced search options need to get much more intuitive.

Google is huge. It is an elephant. As it grows bigger, it is going to get less nimble. That will create huge markets for niche search. One size will not fit all.

Redefine search.

What am I looking for? How long does it take me to find it?



Some combination of machine search and social search might also work, especially when the end user is in control as to the degree of it.

It is to Google's advantage that it also provides platforms for content creation, like Blogger.

Just like it does with text, a good search engine should be able to help you search through multimedia without the multimedia sites actively collaborating. Multimedia sites should get indexed as they spring up, and they could spring up anywhere, any part of the globe.

Multimedia in English has been problem enough. The problem is compounded when you demand - as you should - that the multimedia search has to be language neutral. The machine should be able to understand any media in any language and offer it to you in your language of choice. That has to be the goal.

But first search has to get language neutral for text. Multimedia will be step two.

What if you are not necessarily looking for the most popular and most linked to and most visited sites to show up at the top. Some of the best sites for what you are looking for might be on page 350 or worse. How will you ever find them?

The advanced search option is not advanced enough, and it should not be a separate page where you basically have to fill out a form, it should be as intuitive as simple search. You tweak a few things here and there and you are ready to go.

Also how do you make it easy for people to do mashups and still not destroy the ad business model? How do you make RSS stuff really simple, as the name promises but has not delivered?

Create content. Consume content. The netizen demands those two basic functions.

And my pet peeve of all: why can't you "blog" in mathematical symbols? Like you can find chess players to play chess with at Yahoo Games, you should be able to collaborate on mathematical work. Just do a search and find them.

What does the netizen want? That will be a perennial question. It will still be asked a hundred years from now.

Remember that adage from the last dot com bust, that a site is all page hits and no revenue? Looks like page hits are all that matter after all. It was not a bad business model to start with. Just a little too early.

A Web 3.0 Manifesto
Dell, HP, Apple
Google Books: Primitive
The Next Search Engine
Memo To Bill Gates
Google And Languages
Internet Phones, Video Blogging, Nano
Google: Poised To Be The Number One Software Company In The World

Enter The Titans: AMD Smacked By Intel

Intel did not see AMD coming, Intel got hit last year. The pendulum has swung. AMD did not see Intel coming in the second round, which is now. This clash of the titans has generated quite some flurry, and is a harbinger of things to come in the larger industry: prices on chips are going down. The consumer wins. The market corrects itself. AMD swung into action. Cost cutting is on the block. The market rewarded AMD for it. Its stock price actually went up on the bad news of lower than projected revenue.

This is the market in action. It is dazzling to watch.

A big company can stay crisp, like Intel has in this case. The small company can be agile, nimble, reflexive, smart, but it serves to be wise. Be ready for the big leagues if you decide to hit. Prepare. Plan. Take the plunge.

This is warfare. This is an ecosystem. Some animals are food.

AMD's cost cutting is not to be in its innovation efforts, so I am sure there will be another round. AMD will swing back perhaps.

If prices on chips go down, you are looking at cheaper PCs. Cheap PCs are a good to great idea.

A Web 3.0 Manifesto
The Next Search Engine

Dell, HP, Apple
Michael Dell
PC

In The News

Intel Introduces New Quad-Core Xeons CIO Today the L5320 and L5310 require as much as 60 percent less power than the company's existing 80-watt and 120-watt quad-core server products. ...... The L5320, at 1.86 GHz, and the L5310, at 1.60 GHz, both feature 8 MB of Level 2 cache and can run over a 1,066-MHz front side bus. ..... greater performance and a "dramatic reduction in power consumption" ...... "power and heat becomes a real infrastructure problem -- not just a problem for the I.T. guys, but for the building managers." ..... the lower-powered Xeons are expected to be available worldwide in new servers from Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Verari, Samsung, Wipro, Acer, HCL, Digital Henge, and IBM, as well as the announced servers from Rackable Systems.
IDC Report: Virtualization Cannibalizes Server Sales IDC predicted that server and component vendors will rally around quad-core technology, then move ahead to octi-core chips.
Blu-ray Promoter Foresees Victory in DVD Format Battle "Within three years it will just be Blu-ray." ... Blu-ray's will completely replace the widely popular current DVD standard by 2010. .... the videotape battle between VHS and Betamax. Sony lost that battle, but is having much greater success with Blu-ray. ..... In mid-February, when the Oscar-winning film "The Departed" was released in both formats, the Blu-ray version sold 20,000 copies to the HD DVD's 13,000.
AMD forced into cutbacks as it falls prey to Intel's cheaper chips Independent
AMD lowers revenue outlook CNNMoney.com
AMD cuts forecast; to slash costs MarketWatch
AMD plans overhaul after disappointing first quarter performance Canada.com, Canada
AMD pays the price for awakening Intel Goliath EETimes.com Advanced Micro Devices is paying the price of moving from the sidelines to front and center on Intel's radar. ..... a two-pronged attack by Intel, including strong products and price cuts ...... lower average selling prices and unit sales ..... no mention of a reduction in research and development ...... Through most of last year, AMD grabbed market share from Intel by selling a higher-performing server chip that took the larger rival off guard. Drawn by its better price-performance ratio, companies couldn't get enough of the Opteron, which was key to AMD soaring to eighth place in the microprocessor market last year from 15th in 2005 ......... "Intel was ignoring AMD for a long time, and they paid the price" ....... Intel came back strong, cutting prices and closing the performance gap with Core 2 Duo chips for desktops and notebooks, and its Xeon 5100 series for servers. ...... should lead to lower prices for servers and PCs. .....AMD has outsourced more manufacturing from Chartered Semiconductors ......... Microsoft's new Windows operating system isn't expected to significantly boost PC sales ...... AMD's plan to integrate graphics and core processors in one chip is expected to simplify notebook motherboards, which should lower the price of the hardware ...... scheduled to ship in 2009 ..... "They were caught a little bit off guard by Intel. I don't think AMD expected them to be as effective as they are." ...... AMD no longer has a technical advantage. ..... "They have to prove that they can take Intel head on, while Intel is looking at them."
AMD Restructuring After 1Q Revenue Miss Houston Chronicle, TX
Advanced Micro's Sales Fall 8%, Less Than Anticipated (Update5) Bloomberg
AMD's Perfect Storm Spooner The first quarter of 2006 represents the high water mark for AMD and ATI’s combined revenue for the last eight quarters ..... Intel is on the upswing with an improved product line that has increased its ability to compete and win business from AMD. ...... AMD’s purchase of ATI has created some uncertainty around its graphics processors and chipsets product line. ..... an overall slowdown in brand-name desktop PC sales ...... competition between Intel and AMD will remain intense throughout 2007. ...... its ability to begin an on-time transition to 45-nanometer production. ..... any delay in its transition to 45nm, which is scheduled to begin at mid-2008, will hurt AMD’s long-term capability to compete with Intel.
AMD Gives Us A Tech Reality Check GigaOm The demand for devices – from PCs to wireless phones to everything is heading south - fast. ..... the demand has been lagging in most high-end volume markets - PC’s, wireless handsets and most categories of consumer electronics. .... The good news is that this is market self correcting itself, and instead of a Bust 2.0, we might have a slow correction in the technology ecosystem.
AMD's Pain, Investors' Gain BusinessWeek Chalk investors' positive reaction up to aggressive cost cutting. .... curtailing its spending to weather a fierce onslaught from giant Intel ..... With less money coming into the company, AMD said it will revise its business model. ..... AMD's stock price has plummeted by about 60% during the past year, a $9 billion drop in market value that has underscored concerns about the company's ability to withstand the pricing pressure from the much-larger Intel. ........ Blogger Om Malik called the AMD announcement a "tech reality check"


AMD sees revenue coming up short, plans overhaul Globe and Mail, Canada AMD's shares gained 3.5 per cent to $13.30 in early trading while larger rival Intel Corp. rose 1.6 per cent to $19.89. .... a bruising price war with Intel that has eroded profits for both companies
AMD to miss market expectations Toronto Star, Canada
AMD will restructure business after earnings drop Computerworld, MA
AMD Sales Battered By Intel Red Herring, CA Advanced Micro Devices, the world’s second-largest maker of personal computer processors, said revenue declined 8 percent in the first quarter amid a pricing battle with larger rival Intel. .... The drop in revenue wasn’t as big as some investors anticipated, sending the shares higher. .... Intel has superior products and it is pricing them “aggressively,” putting pressure on Advanced Micro’s sales and profitability
AMD sees revenue below view, plans overhaul Canada.com, Canada
AMD sees revenue below Wall Street view CNET News.com, CA plans to reduce 2007 capital expenditures by about $500 million, cut discretionary expenses and limit hiring to critical positions.
AMD sees revenue below view, plans overhaul Washington Post, DC evidence that a price war between AMD and Intel is continuing ..... "We expect to see evidence of a decline in prices across the board, and that's likely to hurt both AMD and Intel." ..... hopes that AMD's moves would help reduce excess capacity in the industry .... the second quarter in a row that AMD has shown signs of trouble in the price war that has eroded profits for it and Intel in the $30 billion processor industry.
AMD, Intel shares rise Reuters.uk, UK

Dell, HP, Apple

Dell has been a pioneer. I have appreciated its singular focus over decades to bring the price down for the consumer. Dell reminds me of Walmart.

HP places major emphasis on innovation, and hence Carly Fiorina's famous criticism of Dell being a "one trick wonder." HP reminds me of NASA.



Apple is a high class act. Steve Jobs is the guy you go to to get your BMW. Apple sells cool.

All three are PC companies ill suited for a paradigm shift. You can't eat your own belly.

PC

Dell
Dell/EMC
Michael Dell
Hewlett-Packard
Apple Computer
History of Apple Computer
Toshiba
Compaq
List of Intel microprocessors
Intel Corporation
Cisco Systems
Google
Microsoft
IBM
Oracle Corporation
Sun Microsystems
Sam Walton
Quixtar

In The News

Rupert Murdoch Speaks His Mind BusinessWeek "I just want to live forever" .... "I enjoy myself too much." ..... The prospect of supporting New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for President is "really tempting," said Murdoch, who noted that such a campaign would cost Bloomberg "a billion dollars, which apparently doesn't worry him." ..... When asked about his relationship with Senator Hillary Clinton (D–N.Y.), Murdoch replied that, along with the questioner, he didn't understand it. ..... Murdoch's sensibility and wit were honed at newspaper tabloids, and they surfaced in some sly onstage jabs. Recalling a fund-raiser he held for Senator Clinton, he said "she was very impressive in the way she handled issues, and sidestepped them." ...... a Fox Business Channel would launch this fall .... Pressed on the point of political bias, he casually lashed out at the Times. It's "outrageously biased," he said. "Just read Page One every day." He compared it to his less objective, more visceral New York Post, which he said designed its Page One to sell papers. ...... Murdoch, now married to the Chinese-American former News Corp. executive Wendi Deng, also made it clear his ardor had cooled for the media business in China. India "is a working democracy, with rule of law. We find it is most exciting" among developing countries for media. ..... "China is immense, [but its government] is not opening it up yet."
Google Steps Into Microsoft's Office the search leader has offered a test version of an online office productivity software suite, called Google Apps for Your Domain, that lets companies offload e-mail systems to Google while keeping their own e-mail addresses. Soon, it's expected to add word-processing and spreadsheet services to the suite, which includes an online calendar, chat service, and Web page builder. In coming weeks, Google Apps will turn into a real business as Google begins charging corporations a subscription fee amounting to a few dollars per person per month. ..... Microsoft's stated aim to extend its Office franchise to the Web—suggests that before long these two titans of tech will be battling over many of the same corporate customers. .... a dawning era in corporate computing: software delivered as a service over the Internet, so it's accessible anywhere there is a Web browser handy. This time consumers are leading the way as they flock to Web-based applications such as e-mail, chat, and phone services like eBay Inc.'s (EBAY ) Skype Technologies ..... As traditional corporate software has grown complex and expensive to maintain, Web services are getting more capable and reliable every year. "For the first time, consumer-grade applications are good enough that they can be used by enterprises" .... Arizona State University plans to switch most of its 65,000 students to Gmail, Google Calendar, and a customized "start page" this month. ..... Corporate users, accustomed to feature-rich applications from the likes of Microsoft and IBM (IBM ), are more demanding than consumers. ..... Google got a taste last October when it switched over most of its own employees, who mainly had used Microsoft Outlook e-mail and Oracle Corp.'s (ORCL ) calendar program, to Gmail and Google Calendar. Some features on the old systems that Googlers considered crucial—such as a way to schedule all those company-paid massages—weren't available on the new system. In all, employees shot back more than 1,000 requests for new features in the first two weeks after the changeover. ........ Office Live, which offers Web-based e-mail, calendar, and other services in packages ranging from free to $39.95 a month for a single business. Some 250,000 small businesses use it, compared with tens of thousands using Google Apps ...... Zimbra Inc. boasts more than 6 million e-mail boxes at 1,300 paying customers.
Rivals Say HP Is Using Hardball Tactics Cheaper store-brand inkjet printer cartridges have come on strong recently and now make up about a quarter of the market for replacement cartridges in the U.S. ..... those replacement cartridges typically sell for 10% to 15% less than HP's ...... "The speculation is that [Staples] reached a deal with HP and got increased margin and soft money for marketing"
GM: Learning the Ropes in Russia They created GM-Avtovaz, a $340 million joint venture based near the main Avtovaz factory in Togliatti. The thinking was that partnership with Avtovaz would give GM an inside track on penetrating the Russian market and help GM keep costs down by sourcing cheap components from Avtovaz. In turn, Avtovaz expected that GM would help provide management know-how, technology, and access to export markets. ...... Russian consumers proved to be just as discerning as Westerners when it comes to insisting on the latest technology. ..... tensions between the two partners erupted into open conflict in early 2006, when Rosoboronexport, Russia's state-owned arms-export agency, took over Avtovaz and brought in new managers. Avtovaz suddenly stopped supplying engines and other components to the venture, accusing GM of underpaying for parts. ...... Ford (F), now the best-selling foreign car brand in Russia .... The betting is that GM will do better on its own, rather than entangled with a Russian partner.
Davos Ponders a U.S.-Iran War a confab devoted to the peaceful advances of globalization. .... an agenda devoted to the broad topics of peaceful reform was quickly overshadowed by the idea that the Bush Administration would start a war against the mullah-dominated regime of Tehran .... a U.S.-Iran conflict would set the clock back for the whole area. "Can we afford another war?" asked Mubarak. "Of course not. All the genies would come out of the bottle." ...... the huge illiteracy rate in the region—some 70 million lack basic reading and writing skills. Such a deficit he suggested, was responsible for the radicalization of certain elements in the region, especially in Iraq—many Iraqis lacked the tools to form a rounded, accurate worldview. ..... moderates in the Arab world often were mistaken by Americans as being moderate out of sympathy with the U.S. Not true: "We're moderates for the sake of our country .... That world right now is deeply worried about another American war in its midst.
What To Expect At Davos 23 different risks, such as global warming, terrorism, oil price shocks, a hard landing for China, and so on. ..... 2,400 people—half business, half other stakeholders in the global society, including 25 heads of state ..... everywhere in society and business, the power is moving from the center to the periphery. Vertical command-and-control structures are being eroded and replaced by communities and different platforms. We are moving into the Web 2.0 world, and this has tremendous implications on the national level and on business models. .... If we don't discuss and solve the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the world will look very different in 10 years.
Selling Globalization at Davos while the thousands of luminaries gathered in this alpine bubble share a common belief in the benefits of globalization, they are also aware that it enjoys far less support among ordinary citizens. ...... rising signs of anti-globalization—ranging from the potential failure of the Doha round of trade talks to concerns that countries may erect trade barriers to protect jobs and markets. ...... How to convince a wary public that the risks of globalization are outweighed by the economic benefits .... "We have to stop using abstract concepts such as GDP growth and explain globalization instead in terms such as job creation, prices, and taxes," Davis said. Most people, he explained, don't realize that the same forces pulling jobs offshore also drive down prices for the goods they buy at the local superstore. ...... acknowledge the arguments of globalization opponents and take concrete steps to address their legitimate concerns ..... a national health-care system. .... retraining programs for displaced workers. .... globalization means customizing its products for different markets, putting staff on the ground all over the world, and investing deeply in local communities. ...... Unilever, for instance, is famous for selling products such as shampoo and laundry soap in tiny packets that cost people of limited means only pennies. "This is business, not philanthropy, and we make lots of money from it," Cescau said. At the same time, the company supports programs such as Project Shakti, which teaches poor women in rural India about nutrition and hygiene. ........ one reason globalization isn't more appealing is that it demands more work and greater risk-taking from everybody—including people in emerging economies .... local providers who previously enjoyed a cozy local market may suddenly face increased competition—or even ruin—from a deep-pocketed multinational that moves into the market. ...... globalization has victims on all sides ...... globalization also has beneficiaries on all sides ..... corporate social responsibility .... it has to be built into each corporation's fundamental strategy. "You can't have a healthy company without a healthy community." ...... Properly executed, globalization also creates huge opportunity. "Having a global market to serve is an incentive to innovate more," noted Columbia University professor and economist Joseph Stiglitz. ...... the learning that takes place when people from around the world work together. ..... India's famous "frugal engineering" culture ...... In today's car industry, knowing how to design a cheap car is an invaluable skill
The Transformation of Turkey Hrant Dink, the outspoken editor of Turkey's main Turkish and Armenian-language newspaper, was gunned down. ..... Tens of thousands of Turks have demonstrated to condemn the murder and demand justice. ...... the power of networks to promote change, open closed societies, and cross cultural barriers. ..... "Turkey has become very open, very fast." ..... From a single state-owned TV station, more than 300 stations have emerged. Eleven hundred radio channels crowd the airwaves. Every private school is now linked to the Internet, and the government is distributing 400,000 PCs to schoolchildren. ..... Turkish courts are now basing more of their own rulings on the corpus of judgments found in EU law books. ...... Under the present government, Turkey has opened its economy to a surprising degree. ...... Maybe globalization can help Turkey finish its transformation.Foreign direct investment has zoomed from $1 billion to $18 billion. GDP growth has averaged 7%—not quite in China's league, but close. .... Ford has invested hundreds of millions in auto plants in Turkey—and ended up with one of its most productive facilities anywhere. .... Toyota, Honda, Electrolux—multinationals are flocking to the country to benefit from workers that cost $500 a month, universities that churn out engineers, and managers who grasp the concept of quality.
Merkel Calls for Stronger U.S.-EU Ties After a rocky start, the German Chancellor has achieved international respect on the back of a solid domestic economic rebound. ...... problems ranging from trade barriers and economic imbalances to energy and climate change. ..... a call for Europe to strengthen its historic "transatlantic" relationship with the U.S. This is perhaps indicative of her growing concern over Russia's growing clout. Moscow has taken to using its oil and gas riches as a tool to punish wayward neighbors and exert greater influence over policymaking in Western Europe. ....... Merkel began by identifying what she said have been the three seminal global events of the last two decades: the fall of the Berlin Wall and subsequent reintegration of the Eastern bloc countries into the West; the technology boom, exemplified by the global Internet explosion; and the rise of China and India from "static, controlled economies to active participants on the global stage." She urged that their economic power be matched by participation in global policymaking. ....... Merkel's prescription for Europe includes continuing integration, such as an additional 25% reduction in the cost of internal trade within the bloc over the next decade. ...... reinvigorate the process of enacting a new European constitution. ..... the need to mitigate capital market risks with adequate protections. A particular source of concern is hedge funds, which the Chancellor called a "headache" in the struggle to balance risk and equity. ...... Western Europe's dependence on Russian energy supplies.
BT Buys Indian Internet Firm i2i
A 'Gas OPEC'? Mostly a Pipe Dream
Energy: Changing Europe's Power Structure
Surprise: Oil Woes In Iran
EU Tries to Fix Migrant Worker Rules
What Comes After Putin?
Chavez Vexes Venezuela's Investors
Urban Regeneration Plans for Lebanon
The Chinese Discover Central Europe
Vietnam's Growing Role in Outsourcing
Eastern Europe's Software Solution
Continental's Outsourcing Eye-Opener
The Future of Outsourcing
Tipsheet: Outsourcing with Confidence
Best Global Brands
The Top 100 Brands
The Web's Most Viral Ads
Online Extra: Slide Show: Top 100 Global Brands

Is Dell Too Big For Michael Dell? BusinessWeek "I think you're going to see a more streamlined organization, with a much clearer strategy." .... Dell doesn't have the innovation DNA of an Apple or even an HP ..... According to a Jan. 30 study done by Goldman Sachs (GS), Dell is losing share in business spending for PCs. (Hewlett-Packard is also losing share of spending, while Lenovo (LNVGY) and Apple are gaining.) .... "I'm not hiring a COO or a CEO," Dell says. "I'm going to be the CEO for the next several years." He adds: "We're going to fix this business."
Michael Dell In Charge, "Period" Kevin is a great friend of mine, and he did a fantastic job for the company. But that's done ..... "Having a clear, unified strategy and focus and organization is what the company needs. ..... I'm a decisive guy, and we're moving fast. .... Dell's core strengths historically will be its core strengths in the future.
BusinessWeek.com, 11/9/06, "Dell Stands By His Man"
Google's Brand New Appeal More than ever, it's got the entire advertising world in its sights. And this year, Google will come out with guns blazing. ..... now accounts for about a quarter of all online advertising ...... many advertisers are starting to use search ads for branding, like more traditional ads. .... company aims to offer a "complete sales and marketing platform for all advertisers ..... Volvo, Procter & Gamble (PG), and OfficeMax (OMX) all placed image and video ads on Google's networks.

Google Books: Primitive

Google Scholar
Google Books

Have you tried to go through the books? They have tried their best to give you the "book" experience. You turn over the page. The dirty white look is there. The whole nine yards.

I understand these are books only available in print format. So you are doing the best you can, fine. But if you can scan the words, maybe you can present them like regular webpages.

Or maybe have two versions. One would be what you have. Another would be for new authors, new books. Say you are an author, and you wrote a college textbook for Physics 101. You don't want to go to any publisher. Instead you want it directly published online. Instead of a blog, you have a book. So the presentation will have to be different. I mean, you can tweak the current blog templates, and you can alread do that, but it is still too tech-heavy, not still author friendly.

An author should be able to sign up and publish easy. The process should be as simple as possible, with as few steps as possible. The difference between Geocities and Blogger is not that much, technically speaking, but for the average user it is huge. Similarly, Google Books should offer an option that makes it super easy for authors to go online on a lookout for a global audience.

The end products should look like a webpage, navigable, searchable, with ads that make money for authors. Google should perhaps tweak its ad offerings to make it better for book authors, perhaps a 70-30 split in favor of the author.



You could take the book reading experience to a whole different level. If you are a reader who is signed in, you should be able to highlight through the books, online. You should be able to save books in your account, books you might want to read later, you should be able to bookmark to the point you have read.

Is there technology that would make it not possible to copy more than 100 words at a time? Or give the authors the option to turn off the copy feature altogether?

The technology is already there. We just got to make the leap.

Produce books that look like webpages, not like old books. Make navigation webby, not bookey. Let new authors bypass the whole publishing mechanism. Let them have total control. Not all will be read as widely, but let anyone publish.

In The News

Will Apple Ditch the iPod? Motley Fool
Notebooks Poised to Surge Ahead of Desktops in '07 DailyTech
Video, Software Enhancements Mark Cisco Conference PC Magazine
Nasdaq Threatens to Delist Dell SDA Asia Magazine
Have You Seen? Google Start Page Now Bundled With Dell PCs Web Host Industry Review
Hewlett-Packard gets 5-year postal service pact extension MarketWatch
January Set As 'Month Of Apple Bugs' InformationWeek
Intel Develops E-Quran, Saudi E-Curriculum Tech2
Intel Chairman unveils Egypt's first 'Digital Village' ZDNetIndia
Ericsson buys Redback to challenge Cisco Register
Review: ThinkFree Office Suite Attracts Users -- And Google InformationWeek
Google and Orange to create ’Google Phone’ mobile phone. OneCompare
Google's Latest Partnership Is Out of This World Motley Fool
Analyst Still Sees Rough Times For Yahoo! Forbes
Market Ratings Put Google on Top, Yahoo! Close Behind SDA Asia Magazine
IBM joins growing ranks in ending options for directors MarketWatch
IBM to End Stock Options for Directors Houston Chronicle
IBM to boost director retainer to $200,000 per year MarketWatch
Oracle: All Business, No Show Motley Fool
Oracle Offers New Licensing Model Baseline
Stench still hangs over Wal-Mart Chicago Sun-Times

Google's Latest Partnership Is Out of This World Motley Fool
YouTube and Google Video Subscriptions in Outlook Email Search Engine Watch
Google’s book-scanning efforts trigger philosophical debate Boston Herald, United States an alternative project promising better online access to the world’s books, art and historical documents. .... A splinter group called the Open Content Alliance favors a less restrictive approach to prevent mankind’s accumulated knowledge from being controlled by a commercial entity ....... the Open Content Alliance will not scan copyrighted content unless it receives the permission of the copyright owner. Most of the roughly 100,000 books that the alliance has scanned so far are works whose copyrights have expired. ..... The company will only acknowledge that it is scanning more than 3,000 books per day - a rate that translates into more than 1 million annually. Google also is footing a bill expected to exceed $100 million to make the digital copies - a commitment that appeals to many libraries. ...... None of Google’s contracts prevent participating libraries from making separate scanning arrangements with other organizations ..... Despite its ongoing support for the Open Content Alliance, Microsoft earlier this month launched a book-scanning project to compete with Google. ....... All but one of the libraries contributing content to Google so far are part of universities. They are: Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, Oxford, California, Virginia, Wisconsin-Madison, and Complutense of Madrid. The New York Public Library also is relying on Google to scan some of its books.
Google's book-scanning efforts trigger philosophical debate Hindu
Google, splinter group face-off on e-books Business Standard
Google library: Open culture? CNN International
Alternative to Google Image Search? Techtree.com, India
Facial Recognition Software to Find Familiar Faces GameSHOUT
New firm aims to be a Google for photos CNNMoney.com
Face Recognition Coming to Image Searching Digitaltrends.com
Internet Archive expands book digitizing effort Computerworld, MA
Google Book-Scanning Efforts Spark Debate Washington Post, United States
Google’s e-Book Project Sees Challenge SDA Asia Magazine, Singapore
Google Book-Scanning Debate Heats Up Redmondmag.com, CA

PC

The PC market is not as sexy as it used to be, both on the hardware and the software end. A Windows release does not carry the same excitement. Many of the Office products can be had for free online these days. If there is no large scale migration yet, the online products still need polishing up, and businesses are reluctant to let go. And there is sheer inertia. And like a Microsoft top dog said recently, you can't do video editing online. There are things that will stay on the PC, no matter how fast your internet connection. I doubt that claim will hold at substantially higher speeds though.

The hardware has also been sluggish. It has become a mature industry. Dell is not the razmatazz name it used to be.

There is only so much innovation and inundation possible within a set paradigm. Like Larry Ellison once said, the software industry will morph into something akin to what the utility companies are like today.

It is not exactly a dud, to be sure. Things are still happening. We will still see mini-waves, like the iPod wave. You tweak and twan and create a lifestyle.

And there is this vast ocean of humanity to speak of that is still not connected, that huge no-PC world to be harnessed. It will be innovation enough to find ways to get them into the casting net, not all of it technological.

So what is the next big thing? It is not Windows, for sure. I mean, with Windows, they keep adding bells and whistles that can be had online for free. They play a little with the graphics.

Google's innovations are not of the PC era. Google is a whole new cloud.



I keep thinking, since Google can not do everything, it needs to license out its ad mechanism so other startups can use the same model to provide other services to consumers, like free PCs and free wireless broadband and stuff.

On The Web

A New Breed in the Computer Biz BusinessWeek
Hardware Pioneers: The Next Generation These next-generation computers are faster, less expensive, and more energy-efficient.
Blade Servers: Beyond the Cutting Edge
A Peek at Tomorrow's Coolest Tech
Solving the Superspeed Dilemma
Predictions for PC Makers hardware vendors are trying to offset the negative impact on profits by offering services, servers, and storage that carry wider margins .... all the PC vendors are competing on price, due to the highly commoditized nature of the mature PC industry. .... computer makers are trying to get the PC to be like your TV -- just plug it in and go.

Predictions for PC Makers
Lenovo Sees Itself as Top PC Maker in Five Years PC Magazine ... Top Chinese personal computer maker Lenovo Group will start to sell its namesake personal computers outside China in the first quarter of next year as part of its long-term plan to build the world's leading PC brand ..... its $1.25 billion acquisition of International Business Machines Corp.'s PC unit. ..... The acquisition has made it the third-biggest global PC vendor behind Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. ..... The company spends 1.5 percent of its revenue on research, about twice the standard rate for the industry. It has plans to set up research centers in North Carolina and Beijing. ...... Emerging markets in India, China, and Brazil will be major growth areas. ..... Cross-borders mergers are notoriously difficult to carry out. The Lenovo-IBM deal is particularly challenging because the drastic difference between East and West cultures. ...... During early meetings, Western managers were very engaged in the discussion while people from China were generally quiet. When they speak, they tend to ponder, sometimes resulting in five-second pauses. .... "We are teaching our Western colleagues to be comfortable with silence in a conversation and Chinese colleagues to be 'rude"
Dell: Two Top PC Makers Will Die This Year Dell grew more than 40 percent in the fourth quarter, year-on-year, compared with an average of only 9.2 percent for the entire industry.
HP back on top of PC market | CNET News.com January 14, 2004 .... Hewlett-Packard overtook Dell to become the world's largest PC maker in the fourth quarter in a market that is both growing and growing more difficult. ..... In 2000, 140.2 million PCs left factories and accounted for an estimated $226 billion in value ...... In 2003, a record 152.6 million PCs were shipped ...... Dell doesn't sell many PCs through retail stores and typically gives up some ground to competitors during the last three months of the year as a result. ..... HP and Dell have traded off the lead a number of times since HP completed its merger with Compaq in spring 2002. ..... eMachines jumped into the top five manufacturers in the United States, according to Kay, passing both Gateway and Apple Computer ..... Shipments in Japan slowed to single digits after the passage of a recycling law.
Dell expands lead in still-growing PC market | CNET News.com
Slashdot | HP Regains Throne as Top PC Maker
PC World - Software, Hardware, Electronics & Gadgets Reviews ...
Apple enters top 5 US PC makers - Mac - Macworld UK
PC Pro: News: The UK's top PC makers revealed - and much more
HP passes Dell as top PC maker - Systems & Components - www.crn.com.au

In The News

Dell wrestles with its accounting MarketWatch
Dell to hike India investments Daily News & Analysis
HP, Dell earnings are spoiled by scandal BusinessWeek
Hewlett-Packard names Wachovia CEO to board, fills void after spy ... Canada.com
Smoke and Mirrors at Hewlett-Packard: Fool by Numbers MSNBC
Ahead of the Bell: Hewlett-Packard Down BusinessWeek
Apple Shares Soar on Sales Outlook BusinessWeek
Apple’s new 13″ MacBook is a good buy, but in specific cases ZDNet
Intel Raises Vietnam's High-Tech Profile FOX News
Intel Inside Out Motley Fool
Notebook News: Systemax Releases Intel Core2 Duo Processor ... MobileTechReview.com
Cisco Steals a March TheStreet.com
Chambers Becomes Cisco Chairman CRN
Cisco separates offices of CEO and president Reuters
Microsoft the enemy to Red Hat and Linux community iTWire
Readers blast Ballmer for his "Linux users owe Microsoft" ... Computerworld
Yahoo Answers 120 million times: ‘Struggling’? ZDNet
IBM and DOE to Collaborate on Supercomputer Research Technocrat.net
IBM Invests $100 Million in Collaborative Innovation Ideas SYS-CON Media
Oracle's packaged software lacking, report says SearchOracle.com
Spread the word on Fusion, Oracle users urged ComputerWeekly.com
SAP ready to fight Oracle in 'hot' markets Search SAP
Oracle — the new EMC kid on the block Enterprise Networks & Servers
Fusion lost on many Oracle users IT Week
Securent Could Be a Fine Addition for Oracle InternetNews.com
Wipro Infotech wins outsourcing contract from Dena Bank Hindu
Wipro on track for 7% revenue boost Gulf News
Wipro Makes It To FinTech Top 25 EFYTimes
Walking in a Walmart Wonderland Washington College Elm
Circuit City to sell $100 Compaq laptop on Black Friday engadget If you agree to get a Vonage subscription for a year and can handle the assorted rebates, then this lappy is yours for a Benjamin. ..... a Celeron M 420 CPU, 15-inch screen, DVD and CD burner, 512MB RAM and a 60GB hard drive. .... but we'll wait until the price drops that low organically, sans rebates and subscription plans, thanks.
Sun Microsystems open up java to the world. Kenya London News

Microsoft ushers in the dawn of Vista CNet News.com he said Office can be better adapted for Internet-connected mobile devices. And the next version of Windows should aid software developers in creating applications that run on machines with several processing "cores" on a chip. ..... The next Windows should also include features for "state separation," where individual applications are separated in terms of execution and settings ...... installing applications from a CD-ROM is a practice that should be replaced by Web-delivered software. .... "The biggest thing that Vista can do is provide a safe environment for interaction on the Web" ....... people will rely on their PC to edit media files and then post them onto the Web. ...... "What the PC is good at, the Web doesn't have as its core strength, such as really fast UI (user interface) regardless of the connection speed and reliability"
Web 2.0: Looking out for No. 1
Google accidentally sends out e-mail worm
Microsoft's Ozzie: Vista, Office adjusting to Web
AOL says portals are passe a provider of real-time information to the financial services industry ..... AOL was interested in acquiring YouTube ..... AOL's decision to get out of the Internet access business ....... "On-demand video over IP (Internet Protocol) will be the...biggest form of (video) viewing in single digit years"
Ning brings social networking to the masses we give you your own video site like YouTube, or social-networking site like MySpace ..... the site is fully programmable by developers
DirecTV service recommends personalized programming
Mozilla fixes 'critical' flaws
Wal-Mart kicks off holiday season with $398 laptop "We're probably going to see a $199 notebook on Black Friday"
Sub-$30 video cell phones on the way, says TI In the future, it will be a whole lot easier to post videos to YouTube from places like Ghana...... sub-$20 phones will come out in the relatively near future ..... In Mali, radio stations have set up e-mail services that can rapidly send messages between villages and news agencies. ..... 400 million of the billion-plus people in China are current cell phone owners ...... "In many cases, it (a cheap cell phone) will be the first time they connect to the network."
Sundance puts cell phones in the spotlight
200 pages of Diebold machine vulnerabilities Techdirt
The top 100 tech innovations of 2006 Popular Science
Using tech to fight terror BusinessWeek
Visual search for better online shopping Technology Review Each image is broken down into 10,000 numbers that represent more than 30 features of the item--for example, the full spectrum of colors that appear in a handbag, its lumps and curves, and the glossiness of its exterior.
China's satellite navigation plans threaten Galileo New Scientist a 35-satellite constellation .... it would be available free to all Chinese citizens and to other countries whose governments strike a deal to use the signal in satellite navigation devices. ..... Galileo, the US-run Global Positioning System, and Beidou ...... China's behaviour towards Europe is not so different to how Europe behaved with us when GPS was the only game in town a decade ago
Cell phones still mostly for talking SiliconValley.com Verizon is in talks with YouTube to bring user-submitted videos from the Web service to Verizon's wireless customers ...... But do people want to watch? ...... to make up for declining revenue from simple voice services ..... Consumers tend to want to watch video on the biggest screen possible. But it's hard to meet that expectation when, at the same time, consumers have been demanding smaller and lighter handsets.