1984: PC vs. Apple? PC - 2009: Android (based) vs. iPhone? Who?

In the 1980s IBM diluted Apple to single digit share of the personal computer market place.  I believe if Apple continues in the same vein, the Android powered smart-phones will do the same to it now.

Can Apple change? Will it?

Read more at Wired here.

Power of Communities of Choice

I continue here with sharing examples of what communities of choice are capable of versus the mystifying term called - wisdom of the crowds.  Please see various examples in my blog on this subject.

The Wired just published an article in their Danger Room that shares methods for internet users who are interested in speaking and acting against the current Iranian regime.  The user can employ simple methods to attack the Iranian governments websites.  See details here.

I find this fascinating - at the same time I see the self organization of such communities of choice to be driving us towards new paradigms of "choice", refining the perception versus reality debate of marketing.  In a perfect world... one would not have to choose!

Communities Of Choice - The Avenue For 21st Century Breakthroughs

I have written consistently and proven the point that there is a myth called wisdom of the crowds. Perhaps it is a marketing term now engulfing the tera-intellect.


An excellent example in the Wired magazine article "There's Power In The Puzzle" here, highlights yet again how the power of communities formed by choice can drive breakthroughs past the imagination of the initiators of the idea for the community. The article discusses a SETI@home like program yet driven from a gamer's perspective, i.e. putting the people in the center of the process. The result is a game called Foldit -

"It simply serves up a multicolored knot of spirals and clumps—a 3-D render of a protein. Players use the cursor to grab, bend, pull, and wiggle the chain of amino acids anywhere along its length, folding the protein into its optimum shape. The only rules are based on physics—opposite charges attract, atomic bonds have limited angles of rotation, and the parts of the molecule that stick to water tend to point outward. The closer your model's properties adhere to those rules, the more points you get."

Yet, the important part of this activity was:

"Working on test proteins for which Baker already knew the structures, folders quickly started to make friends via the in-game chat channel. They shared insights and half-finished puzzles; teams emerged, and collective efforts proved far more successful than any solo folder. A member of the leading team named Jason Kuznicki ... set up a wiki that Popović adopted as Foldit's official manual. "We even built a mini-Facebook for them," he says."

I believe the 21st century is going to be about "communities of choice" driving breakthrough innovation. The internet will continue to flatten the intellectual landscape and making collaboration ubiquitous, where a student who has completed the MIT computer science course work through MIT's open-courseware in Vietnam's low socio-economic class (see excellent article here) can engage in direct scientific analysis with individuals independent of geography.

Note that the winner of the game of Foldit who developed a complex protein is a 13 year old.

(we)Blogs are over (per Wired)

"Thinking about launching your own blog? Here's some friendly advice: Don't. And if you've already got one, pull the plug."

A statement from the Wired article "Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004" here.

1988... A computer lab at Georgia Institute of Technology... I had just finished typing up a Usenet article on a recent trip (on a Sun station) while a small window scrolled on the side showing what people were doing... what class rocked, what professor was pure pain, where was the Thursday night party going to start, insight on the mid-term coming up and so on... and at the same time I had couple of private chat windows going on.

Fast forward to just about 2008... has anything changed, not really. The only thing that has changed is "hype-cycling"!!! I like Wired, it provides, insight and foresight simultaneously while at times stating the obvious...!

Blogs have a place, like Twitter, Facebook, etc. I believe knowledge rinsed through experience consolidated into blogs will remain the main stay for finding vetted results to one's search for information. Blogs are what Wikipedia can never be... experience added to the product, i.e. Wikipedia is the product for gathering knowledge, everyone loves it and uses it... yet to engage in experiences associated with the "use" of the product, we will go to blogs that challenge, enhance, counter, evaluate, etc. the common wisdom within the product (Wikipedia) through the experiential results of humans.

Twitter has its place... and so do blogs. They will coexist.

Wired: Jagdish Bhagwati - Keep Free Trade Free

I wrote a review here of Mr. Parag Khana's letter to the next President of the USA. Below are some of my thoughts on a similar letter to the next President of the USA from Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati, see here.

In one word "brilliant". Or is it because he shares or states insights that are similar to how I look at the global market place? Here is an excerpt:

"... China may never be as innovative as the US, which has a stable venture-capital model and an entrepreneurial culture that promotes creativity. Globalization helps nations discover their unique strengths."

[Portrait on right of Dr. Bhagwati by Mario Hugo]

Dr. Bhagwati discusses IP in his article in context of constrained free trade, NAFTA being his example where he states:

"Agreements like Nafta are for free trade among members but increased protection against nonmembers."

Economic constraints (or sometimes protectionism) have an interesting quality that for a short period of time they benefit the ones within the boundary(s). If such continues, different models of conducting business emerge outside the boundary(s) that directly compete with the constrained model.

An extreme example of this would be the difficulties Israel faces in bringing its IP and ideas to the global market place, due to the reasons that are. As the US is one of the most open and international business friendly places for new ventures, at times trumping politics when the economic will is stronger, the US has benefited from a plethora of Israeli breakthroughs using it as the global launch pad. I wonder of the economic impacts if this IP had Asian launch pads for success?

I believe "Political will" to be perception and "Economic will" to be reality - both must be leveraged and managed with a balance. An unfortunate example of the imbalance is the Kyoto Protocol (details here).

[Click the figure above to maximize]

Further emphasizing my thoughts on this subject is a current example of yet another unsuccessful attempt to drive towards free trade and economic models of conducting business on agriculture, industry and services - the Doha Round (details here). An excerpt on the Doha Development Round from Wikipedia:

"As of 2008, talks have stalled over a divide on major issues, such as agriculture, industrial tariffs and non-tariff barriers, services, and trade remedies.[1] The most significant differences are between developed nations led by the European Union (EU), the United States (USA) and Japan and the major developing countries led and represented mainly by India, Brazil, China and South Africa. There is also considerable contention against and between the EU and the U.S. over their maintenance of agricultural subsidies—seen to operate effectively as trade barriers."

Dr. Jagdish Bhagwati brings to the forefront the key driver for all decisions that politicians face... economic will. It drives global trade and its leverage can help create better conditions for humanity and development of sustainable products and services.

See Dr. Bhagwati's website here.

Wired: Parag Khana - Embrace the Post-American Age

Wired magazine has published fifteen letters to the next President of the USA from fifteen talented individuals. One of the letters is from Mr. Parag Khana here.

I found the overall impression of Mr. Khana's abandonment of historical lessons enjoyable. Here is an excerpt from the article:

"[Mr. Khana] describes a planet dominated by a trio of superpowers: the US, China, and Europe. In this tripolar era, America's fate depends on tough national choices, not lame historical analogies. If the US wises up — by tightening trade and energy ties to the rest of the hemisphere, pursuing economic innovation at home, and establishing a "diplomatic-industrial complex" — it can grow stronger..."

In the long cycles of gains of power by nations and then losing them, USA has a handicap that it is but a child among the ancients. Especially enjoyable above is the term "lame historical analogies", if America does not learn from its successes and failures then... what?

Regarding Mr. Khana's comments on India and China - In my daily international activities, I work and engage with more South Asians across Fortune 500 companies second only to Caucasians in senior executive positions. One of the main winning assets (proven anthropologically) for a society in fast growth is unhindered communication across all spheres of conduction of business. South Asia's language is English and the world does business in English. It is interesting to note that Mr. Khana's background did not ground him in realities of his birth place.

In my opinion, the future economic giants will be the ones who develop and harness Intellectual Property. I disagree with Mr. Khana when he discounts India against China. See this article at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization) on insights on approach by the two nations. Creativity is not regime-able, at least in my belief. Creativity must have a choice otherwise when an edict (let's say of "thou shall create") is driven upon a society, documented human history does not show positive results... aaa! I forget that Mr. Khana does not believe in "lame historical analogies".

My personal experiences have shown South Asian to be second or on par to Americans and Israelis when it comes to being entrepreneurial and aggressive at business. A comparative analysis of the most recent millionaires and billionaires between China and India will reveal some parallels yet striking differences as the Indian billionaires have literally attacked the global markets when it comes to growing the business, from Mittal Steel acquiring Arcelor (Arcelor Mittal) or Tata acquiring Land Rover / Jaguar and a plethora more of them.

This is unique to India or anyother developing economy. In comparison, China is currently focused internally... it has much to grow with-in than out, hence, that global growth may be a secondary consideration?

As Mr. Khana himself stated, "I think I'm the only person who went to Davos ten times by the age of 30... I'm not sure that's a good thing." A good observation?

I will comment on World Economic Forum in Davos if I go next year.

As to Mr. Khana's comments on Iran - I have to question the assumptive generalization: Does all that the West has to offer is great? In a world rapidly being democratized through commoditization of essentials of life, where the owners of this commoditization are India and China, where the beneficiaries of such democratization forces are mostly in Asia and Africa... this assumption by Mr. Khana is a dangerous one.

Overall, this article is uniquely insightful and entertaining, about and from an educated 31 year old World Economic Forum alumni.