from Fast Company

I am fan of Pandora.  I am listening as I keyboard this.  I even pay for it!

The following fast Company article, with a link to a video of the founder talking about how Pandora was created is very interesting.   I found it interesting as a lesson in product development, as well as a success story.  I really like the discussion of the “magic bullet” is.

Tim Westergren Fast Company Interview

What do you think?  Are you a fan?

Thank you Lucas

Honda Losing Momentum

According Lucas  ”Here is a good article for your website about Honda, their product strategy and it losing momentum in a market that is becoming increasingly competitive.”

What do you think?

Thanks Tyler

The “ultimate social networking device” ?

Check out the article and tell us, do you think this will meet the expectation of being the ultimate social networking device?  Will it beat the iPad?  Do you need an iPad and a Streak 7?

Android Tablet

What say you?

Thanks for the referral Mary.

Tablet Tidal Wave

This blog posting has some great ideas about the coming wave of digital books and e publishing.   The blog publishes a 2011 “to do” list.

What’s on your list?

From Engineering.com

3D Pong Game

While this is a fun time waster.  What does it tell us about the future of interactive technology?  Will 3D TV etc. be big?   What does this mean for business?  How can you use the emerging 3D technology to create competitive advantage?

What do you think?

Thank you Hugh

From the site of the National Science Foundation

Birth of the Internet Interactive Presentation

This interactive timeline has some great pictures, text and video segments that talk about the history of the development of the internet.

What was your favorite part?  Mine is in the 1990’s section.  “Tools to Untangle the Internet”.  Development of the Web Browser.    Check out how the “number of computers on the internet grows”   Also, take a look at the sequential map of the growth of the internet from 1969  through 2007.

From Strategy and Business

Profits Down, Spending Steady: The Global Innovation 1000

“Booz & Company’s annual study of the world’s biggest corporate R&D spenders finds that most companies have stuck with their innovation programs despite the recession — and many are boosting spending to compete more effectively in the upturn.”

My take: Innovation should ALWAYS be a priority. R&D for New Products, a priority.

What do you think?

From the Harvard Business School Blog…..

How will Augmented Reality affect Your Business

Check out the five “things”.  Personally, of these, the “nature of location” will have the most profound impact.

What do you think?

An article on “strategy+ business” entitled “Profits Down, Spending Steady: The Global Innovation 1000″

” Booz & Company’s annual study of the world’s biggest corporate R&D spenders finds that most companies have stuck with their innovation programs despite the recession — and many are boosting spending to compete more effectively in the upturn.”

Within the article we read quotations from business leaders  “Innovation is what drives our competitive position in all three of our markets — automotive, professional, and consumer — and therefore we can’t back off,” says Robert Lardon, corporate vice president for strategy and investor relations at Harman International Indus­tries Inc. Adalio Sanchez, general manager of IBM’s System X server business, echoes that point of view: “I would argue that the recession is a catalyst for in­creased innovation.”

This is encouraging for new product developers and a welcome sign that innovation is live and well, and in fact, an imperative for survival — long term.

What do you think?

Hugh suggested the linked White Paper from Eaton regarding the economics of running a data center.

The report is 12 pages long, however, if you are interested, the report is good, especially if you are an IT person or Power Quality person.

Economics of Data Center

I am personally interested in the capabilities of “real time” measurements.

Here is the Abstract:

“IT teams grapple with some inescapable realities. The cost of operating the data center is outpacing the
cost of IT resources themselves. High-density equipment pressures power and cooling systems to the
max. Moves, adds and changes can turn the power infrastructure into a deck of cards, at risk of
overloads, tripped circuits and unplanned shutdowns.
It doesn’t have to be that way. There are practical and affordable ways to ease these concerns without
making major changes in the power delivery system.
High-efficiency power quality systems, greater visibility into power conditions at all levels, flexible options
to power all those dual- and triple-corded servers, modularity for flexible growth… new approaches and
technologies such as these are redefining the economics of running the modern data center.”

What do you think is interesting?

A blog post at Harvard Business School states that the USA cannot make the Kindle.  The article gives lots of insight into the design and manufacturing of the Kindle.  More importantly, it raises the questions associated with the importance of our (USA) ability to manufacture a product such as the Kindle.

The US Can’t Manufacture the Kindle and that’s a Problem

What do you think?  Does the USA NEED to be a manufacturer?  Why?   Is this “killing innovation”?

While clicking around the INSEAD KNOWLEDGE website, I came across an article and video of Michael Porter.  The video, from October of 2008 has Porter talking about what “not” to do and what “to” do in a downturn. Do not worry about the stock price! — MP

Revisiting Five Forces Framework

What do you think?  Anything new here?

Thank you Wendy for your suggestion.

The article “Google’s ingenious plan to spruce up the browser” or Chrome for Clunkers is an interesting article and short video sabout browsers.  Personally, I like the CHROME browser from GOOGLE especially for accessing webmail (it seems to be faster), I also like the fact that it is a GOOGLE Search tool and browsers where I can be lazy and not even type a URL, I just type what  am looking for.

The article also promises that it will be a big part of GOOGLE Wave — which you have perhaps read about in this blog.

So what do you use and why?   If you have used Chrome, do you think it is faster, or just anti-Explorer?

Thank you David for your suggestion of this article.

Kindles yet to woo University Users

One student said in the article ““Much of my learning comes from a physical interaction with the text: bookmarks, highlights, page-tearing, sticky notes and other marks representing the importance of certain passages — not to mention margin notes, where most of my paper ideas come from and interaction with the material occurs,” he explained. “All these things have been lost, and if not lost they’re too slow to keep up with my thinking, and the ‘features’ have been rendered useless.”

Humm.  Interesting.  You can highlight on the Kindle, however, in the university environment, it gets in the way of learning.  At least according to this student.

What do you think?

Ok, so I am not teaching a marketing class at the current time, I still think that a reminder once in a while about the importance of brand and brand building is a good thing. 

Branding is a consideration in New Product Management, often might even be a criteria in new concept screening.

The article “Five Letter words is key to Marketing Success” is what prompted my thoughts of branding.

So, how important is brand?  How much should it (brand fit, brand extension)be a part of new product concept criteria?

Fast Company posted “The Argument for Kindles in Schools“.  Mainly, the arument is that it saves money.

What do you think?  Would you prefer an electronic textbook reader?  What features would you think beneficial?

Thanks to Hugh for this recommendation on “The World According to GOOGLE”.

CNN Money published an article called “The World Acccording to GOOGLE” wherein they discuss some of the economic trending that GOOGLE is doing.  Also, we have spoken in class about GOOGLE TRENDS and more specifically, the GOOGLE Flu Trends .  Knowing what people are searching for can yield some powerful trending information.

What do you think about this technology?  How can it lead to competitive advantage?  What would you like trended?

Here comes WAVE.

What is it?  Check it out.  Watch the Video (over 3 Million Views at this posting)  About GOOGLE WAVE

What do you think?  Does Microsoft (SharePoin)t have anything to worry about?

Did you sign up for announcements?

An article in FORTUNE Magazine entitled “How Facebook is Taking Over our Lives”  discusses the profound impact that Facebook is having on all of our lives.  As a technology, it is fascinating.   The online article has some great data that presents some amazing facts about the growth of Facebook users, daily users, time of use per day etc..   As a technology, it took only 5 years for it to reach 150 million users.  The telephone took 89 years, TV took 38 years.   Usefulness aside, it is a huge phenomenon.  Microsoft has taken a stake in Facebook, has been collaborating on some projects while competing in some respects. Why?

What do you think about Facebook?

Where will it go?

What is the role of Facebook in the “corporate world”?

I read with interest an article — Waxman-Markey Flunks Math  where we learn that most of our electricity comes from coal, hopefully clean coal, but more importantly, the amount of energy that comes from “green” sources, and how the “math” (logic) shows how difficult it will to be “green”.  BTW, the article points out that 1.1% comes from petroleum.  We are going to get real about the technology we put into solar, wind, water, and biomass as we move forward — based on these numbers.  When we get real about the technology investment, and strategy about technology development because our real lelectric energy needs are going to surpass our dreams of having green energy real quick.  From the article, “Well, what about electricity for the other 295 million of us? You can’t get there from here with Waxman-Markey. At best, solar, wind, batteries, geothermal and cellulosic ethanol combined will meet 20% of our needs by 2025.”

So, what should be our technology strategy, where should we be making our investments (or the behaviour modification penalties) for our future energy needs?  As we invest, or create public policy, we need to take into account REAL NEEDS.  What do you think?