Interesting Reading: 10/13
Twenty-two power laws of the emerging social economy
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=961
What's Holding India Back
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_42/b4151038045277.htm"Spitting a fine stream of red betel-leaf juice into the knee-deep waters of his rice paddies, Subhash Mahapatra points to the line dividing his land from his neighbor's. It's not much, but his family has cultivated rice on the two acres of dark, loamy soil for generations, and Mahapatra knows of no other way to feed his children. "If I don't want to sell it, do I not have the right to say no?" he asks.The answer to that question may determine whether India will see a new industrial revolution, one broad enough to provide the jobs needed to lift millions out of poverty. Mahapatra's property is part of a 4,000-acre parcel that the government of Orissa state five years ago promised to steelmaker Posco (PKX). The South Korean giant had hoped it would be home to India's biggest steel mill, a $12 billion behemoth with its own port on the Bay of Bengal. So far, Posco hasn't even managed to build a fence around the site, as Mahapatra and thousands of others have battled police, once even taking Posco workers hostage for a few hours.Across India, similar struggles are holding back nearly 200 proposed factories, railroads, highways, and other projects. Add it up and you'll find that some $98 billion in investment is in limbo, the Association of Indian Chambers of Commerce estimates."--------30 Impressive vCard Web Designs
http://sixrevisions.com/design-showcase-inspiration/30-impressive-vcard-web-designs/"A vCard is an electronic business card that uses a standard format. Some individuals have taken to creating simple, typically one-page, sites that center around their vCard. These sites contain minimal content, usually just basic information about the individual (i.e. job title) and contact information (i.e. mailing addresses and links to social media profiles). Designer and Blogger, Tim Van Damme, started this web design trend, and for a lack of a better term, I’ll call them vCard sites."--------The 'Average American' Is Dying Off
http://www.businessinsider.com/the-average-american-is-a-dying-breed-2009-10"The 2010 Census is expected to find that 309 million people live in the United States. But one person will be missing: the average American."The concept of an 'average American' is gone, probably forever," demographics expert Peter Francese writes in 2010 America, a new Ad Age white paper. "The average American has been replaced by a complex, multidimensional society that defies simplistic labeling."The message to marketers is clear: No single demographic, or even handful of demographics, neatly defines the nation. There is no such thing as "the American consumer."--------
Beyond Eureka
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_70/s0910040453439.htm?chan=smallbiz_smallbiz+index+page_top+small+business+stories"The accepted mythology of entrepreneurship goes something like this: An average guy or gal has a flash of inspiration, funds a startup with credit cards, and eventually achieves runaway financial success. Sound familiar?We're not going to deny the importance of the "Eureka!" moment. But it's not the only—or even the most successful—way to start a new business. According to Paul Reynolds, a visiting professor at George Mason University, about one-third of entrepreneurs have the desire to strike out on their own before they have a particular business in mind. Reynolds comes to that estimate from his experience as one of the principal investigators of the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics, which has observed about 1,700 entrepreneurs over the past decade.The process of coming up with a great idea for a new business need not be shrouded in mystery. Serial entrepreneurs, in particular, tend to follow a well-thought-out, disciplined process. "You increase your chances of success when you use a well-defined methodology rather than pulling an idea out of the air and running with it," says Danny Warshay, a Brown University adjunct professor and managing director at Providence-based DEW Ventures, a firm that invests in and coaches startups. A 2008 paper by James Fiet, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Louisville, found that training MBA students to use a systematic approach dramatically improved the wealth-creating potential of the business ideas they generated."--------Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1
http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/DMCGF1/DMCGF1A.HTM"Possessing nearly everything you want in a digital SLR with the convenience of a smaller digital camera, the Panasonic GF1 is the most refined of the new category of small, interchangeable-lens digital cameras. Its small size allows it to fit into very small bags or briefcases along with an accessory lens, but its large sensor size and interchangeable lens design means you're not sacrificing image quality or versatility by leaving the SLR behind."
--------'Frankencamera': A Giant Leap For Digital Photos?
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113692571"It's big. It's ugly. And it's made from recycled parts, at least for now. It's called the "Frankencamera" — and it might someday change the way you take pictures.Computer scientists at Stanford University say the new camera works something like an iPhone: It can be altered in nearly infinite ways, depending on the applications downloaded to it.Even the best digital camera on the market today has lots of limitations, the professor behind the prototype, Marc Levoy, tells NPR's Guy Raz."--------New Platform for Micropayments to News Publishers
http://springwise.com/media_publishing/bitcents/"On most levels, news and the internet are a match made in heaven. Instant publishing, access to a global audience, hyperlinks, multimedia, etc. Nonetheless, many publishers are struggling to create a profitable business based on advertising alone, and are considering moving at least part of their content from free to fee.Aiming to make it simpler for publishers to charge for their content, newly-launched bitcents offers an easy to integrate micropayment system. Instead of each publisher having its own subscription and payment method, readers will be able pay once to access paid content—archived articles, in-depth stories and other types of (premium) material—from all publishers working with bitcents. The company adds an interesting twist: it's inviting developers to create subscriber networks. Each network will recruit its own readers, who will have access to content from all of bitcents' publishers. The idea is that subscriber networks will create their own tools and/or methods of content curation to differentiate themselves from other networks and to attract their own audiences. In return, they'll receive a cut of the revenues created by sending readers to publishers' paid content. (A sample subscriber network can be found here: tppnce.)"--------
McKinsey – The 10 Trends You Have to Watch: and what they mean for IT – summary
http://blogs.gartner.com/mark_mcdonald/2009/09/14/mckinsey-%E2%80%93-the-10-trends-you-have-to-watch-and-what-they-mean-for-it-%E2%80%93-summary/"Over the past two weeks, the blog has featured a discussion of 10 trends featured in the July 2009 edition of the Harvard Business Review http://tinyurl.com/l2ooj3. This is a recap and link posting for people looking to explore and contribute to the discussion as we all face a world of uncertainty and volatility.This blog entry recaps each of the trends with the first bullet a summary of McKinsey’s view of the trend and the second a summary recommendation. The details are in the individual blog posts that are cross linked to the title of the trend."--------Defining the Big Shift
http://edgeperspectives.typepad.com/edge_perspectives/2009/08/defining-the-big-shift.html"About one month after the release of our Shift Index report, one question that keeps coming up is whether we can offer a succinctly define what the Big Shift is that our Shift Index seeks to measure.Given the magnitude, depth and far-reaching impact of the Big Shift, succinctness is a challenge. At the highest level, we would characterize the Big Shift as moving from a world of push to a world of pull. In other words, given the growing uncertainty in the world around us, we must master a new set of techniques required to access, attract and accumulate resources to unleash peer based learning in far more flexible ways than conventional push programs permit.But perhaps this is too high level. It may help to develop this perspective just a bit more in the context of “from-to” contrasts."
