Post PC World

Engadget editorial about how Apple is creating a post-pc world. They are sure selling a lot of things. And doing that very well.  But are they really new ideas?  Or are they just re sculpting things that have been done for a long time?

Four New CIO Types

In Readwriteweb:  It is suggested that " ... Chief "Infrastructure" Officers, Chief "Integration" Officers, Chief "Intelligence" Officers, and Chief "Innovation" Officers .. " need to be considered as part of a new structure of corporate management.  I agree that all these areas of knowledge need to be classified, but hardly added to the pantheon of infrastructure, with all the added complexity and cost.  Why not outsource these capabilities and have them report to the CIO?

A New Kind of Consulting

Of interest, related to my recent note on social networks in the enterprise.  CapGemini is reorganizing to use social networks to do consulting.  Also, consultancy Atos Origin plans to eliminate all e-email with three years, aiming to replace it with social media.  Lots of changes will have to be made to the social media of today, which are not designed for efficiency or knowledge management, to make that viable.   An opportunity.

RStudio for R

RStudio: A new free IDE (Integrated Development Environment) that looks to make coding easier for the open source statistics language R.  Much more here.

Is Social Networking in Business a Revolution?

Social networking in the enterprise.  What exactly is its value there?  Is it way to improve productivity via more transparent communications.  Or is a waste of time?  A good piece from Wharton on the topic that many enterprises are struggling with.

Is Business-centric Social Networking a Revolution -- or a Ruse?

Programs like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn have become a popular way for families and groups of friends (or groups of strangers) to share information and organize their lives. Now corporations are hoping they can tap into those capabilities as a way to improve employee productivity, collaboration and communication on the job -- and a long line of software vendors are hoping to position themselves as the ones to help make the integration of social networking and business a reality. Is it worth the effort?

Comparing ShopSavvy and RedLaser Barcode Readers

I just received an update for the ShopSavvy barcode reader for my IPhone 4 Smartphone.  I was able to do a quick comparison with the RedLaser barcode reader on the same phone with a number of books and CPG products.  The newest ShopSaavy reader update is very slick, it requires almost no alignment with the barcode in reasonable store lighting.  The current version of RedLaser still requires you hold the picture within two sets of alignment arrows, and hold the phone quite still.  The ShopSaavy has pulled ahead, making it very convenient for quick in-store use. Moderate glare causes no problems.   Both can also handle QR codes.  Only RedLaser lets you turn on the phone light, which can also be useful in some situations.   No contest at this time.  The winner for typical use at this time is ShopSavvy.

Unusual Uses of QR Codes

In the AisleBuyer Blog: Another Type of Barcode: QR Codes and Their Unusual Uses  Also see more about what AisleBuyer does.  " ... Meet the World’s First Virtual Shopping Assistant and Mobile Self-Checkout.. At AisleBuyer, we believe in using technology to make shopping easier and better than ever before. We believe radical things like you should never have to wait in line and that you should have access to the best features of online shopping without sacrificing the things you love about in-store shopping. We developed AisleBuyer to dramatically improve the in-store shopping experience while helping retailers attract and retain their customers ... '

Streetview from a Tricycle

Google uses Tricycles, albeit very unusual ones,  to get a streetview in parks and footpaths.  I like the experience being gathered by gathering data from human sensors.   I guess the accuracy needed means this cannot be crowd-sourced. ---  ' ... Google is extending its Street View website with photographs of off-road destinations using specially-adapted tricycles. Here, Google's Daniel Ratner rides his three-wheeled creation The Internet giant has this week launched a large collection of images taken by the 9ft-long tricycles. The novel off-road vehicles will allow Street View to increasingly include images of public and private sites such as Kew Gardens in London, hiking trails in California and Sea World in Orlando, Florida. ... '

Debate on Patent Reform

The debate on US patent reform will begin in the Senate.  My own limited interaction with Patents says we need it.  CW Article.

Buyology Inc's New Website

I see that neuromarketing company: BuyologyInc has a new website.  I have done consulting work with them in the past.  Much better done and more informative site than the previous one.  Included is more on their First Annual Most Desired Brands in the U.S. Report.  Previously also mentioned here.  Also interesting they describe their Neurotypes classification methodology at the site.

Moonlighting Within the Enterprise

Liked this NYT article: Moonlighting Within Microsoft, in Pursuit of New Apps  Admittedly it would work best in the technical enterprise, where you can slice off a specific piece of value and develop it.   A kind of crowd-sourcing, but  internally done, with the people that have the most knowledge and talent to do the work involved.  Certainly this could be done in different enterprises as well? ...

" ... Microsoft has taken an unusual step. It has relaxed a strict rule and will let employees moonlight in their spare time and keep the resulting intellectual property and most of the revenue, as long as that second job is writing apps for Windows Phone 7-based devices.  And they don’t have to do that work quietly. The company is having weekly pizza parties for workers who pitch in to write code for the platform and is planning ways to publicize their work, including posters and awards of recognition, said Brandon Watson, director of developer experience for Windows Phone 7. Free Windows 7-based phones were given to all employees in the 19 countries where the phones are available ... "

Gestural Interfaces on the Street

An example of gestural interactivity with a screen in store.  We examined early attempts at this kind of interaction on the store shelf.  This appears to be increasing in capability and include smartphone interaction and enabling payment.  In Fastcompany.  I have yet to see this in an actual application.  Like in many advanced technology introductions consumers need to become used  to the idea.  I have noticed in just the last few months an increase of shoppers using smartphone barcode scanners in the store.

AT&T to Launch ShopAlerts

It is surprising that this kind of location based promotion service was not launched sooner.   Readwriteweb posts a good overview: ' ... The difference between ShopAlerts and so-called "checkin" apps like Foursquare and Shopkick, is that you don't have to launch an app on your smartphone and take any action in order to receive the coupons a retailer or brand wants you to see. Instead, you opt in one time - in this case, via AT&T's website - and then the coupons come directly to your phone when you're in the vicinity of a store offering the deal or discount ... '  -  Update: More details, initially to be available in four cities.
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Official Google Packaged Goods Blog

I was reminded again today of the official Google CPG blog.  A post this month tells us the insights gleaned in 2010.

Digital Marketing at Reckitt

The focus on digital video is interesting:
In Adage: Can Digital Marketing Rekindle Growth at Reckitt Benckiser?

Marketing Chief Jiri Kulik Plans to Remain Biggest Advertiser in Online Video ... '

Primer on Co-Creation

Good piece in the HBR on the complexities of using co-creation.  " ... But what is co-creation, really, and how do you do it right? Co-creation involves working on new product and service ideas together with the customers who are going (you hope) to buy them. It turns "market research" into a far more dynamic and creative process. It's easy for the C-suite to sign up to co-creation. But very often it goes against the grain of how they built their careers in the first place. This does not come naturally. Where to start? ... '

RFID Journal Offers Starter Kits

I notice that the below offer started last December, and is of interest to users that might want to test these tagging methods in their own environments and conditions.   I am assuming this is still underway.  Read the whole article at the link below to understand what is being offered.

Out-of-the-Box RFID Solutions

RFID Journal is offering several starter kits from technology partners that end users can employ to track IT assets, apparel and other items.  By Mark Roberti  

RFID Journal began offering starter kits from several solutions providers via our Web site (see RFID Journal to Offer User-Friendly Out-of-the-Box RFID Starter Kits). Our goal is not to become a distributor of radio frequency identification technologies, but rather to serve the needs of our readers, who often ask me to recommend RFID solutions that can be used to track IT assets, reusable containers and so forth, or that can be tested in their own environment. We are offering these starter kits as a test to see if there is a demand for prepackaged solutions  .... "

Averages

Good piece on averages, pulled from the new book: Numbers Rule Your World, by the author of that book Kaiser Fung,  which I did a pre review of here.  This is a good place to start in learning about practical uses of statistics.

Associative Memories Applied by Saffron Technologies

Repeating and updating this post because I think there is considerable value in the application of Associative memory systems.   I had a recent conversation in this area and found that the artificial intelligence approach is little known.  

Saffron Technologies forthcoming book: Making Memories, Applying Neuron-inspired Associative Memories to National, Business and Consumer Intelligence by Manuel Aparicio IV

You can register and get a free copy of the Prolog and Part One and reserve a free copy of the ebook.

In the enterprise we closely examined the application of associative memories for enterprise experience storage and retrieval applications.  It is related to neural network techniques.   I have met with Saffron several times and am impressed with this rare and complete application of this leading edge work.

" .. Making Memories tells a story about the science, technology and business of Saffron's new approach to capturing and reasoning from the "memories" of your data. It's what Saffron calls "Experience Management." ... These sections will give you a strong sense of what Making Memories is about: How an old idea -- human thought processes and how they work -- is being applied to create a completely new arena of data analytics for business that surpasses the need for rules and statistics.
We believe the book is very timely given today's data management challenges ... "

Taking Advantage of Social Media

From Chief Learning Officer:  Good intro on taking advantage of social media.  I have worked several projects in social media, including early introductions to the enterprise, and found there is still much mis-understanding in this space.  People understand what it is, but not what they should do to leverage it.