Interesting musings…

During the last few days – I stumbled on 2 interesting thread.

One from Frank Scavo – where he summed up Nick Carr’s presentation on Cloud computing and how it is changing the IT landscape.  Not much new here from Cloud computing perspective – but I like how Nick uses historical analogy and compare it to the past trend in the Power industry. I have included Nick’s talk on Youtube here.

Second one is from Dave Kellogg – who summed up recent Tom Siebel talk and some of the initiative that he is working on. It is a good summary of some of the larger trends affecting our society in the current day and age. More and more folks are jumping in to help monitor and mitigate carbon footprint we leave behind on daily basis. This influx of both capital and intellectual power will help make the world a better place. It is also becoming good business as more and more bright people jump on the bandwagon to improve energy utilization and work towards providing better alternative sources.

Particularly, I like one of the link that point to Zerofootprint product offering. It has simple calculator that people can use to analyze how much we contribute to the CO2 emission and how we can be more conscious in our daily life reducing the CO2 footprint we generate. Also, it share up and coming enterprise applications for companies to measure and manage their own carbon footprint.   It is not only good from the social consciousness perspective – but also good business.

Enjoy!

Is the world round again?

While no doubt we are living through one of the tough economic times – probably the most difficult we can remember in the recent time. But are the policies that promotes protectionism the way out of the current economic mess?

Here are some of the discussions happening at our policy makers circle:-

• Protectionism as part of the latest stimulus bill may spark trade war
• Microsoft layoffs add more fuel to H1-B fire 
• Stimulus bill barring H1-B hiring
• EU warns Obama on protectionism in stimulus bill

Seems like Europe is not far behind…it is all about protecting that we care most – our own first.

• Protectionism on the rise in Europe

This is not an easy question. Even in my family, my wife and I usually end up on the opposite side (and kids somewhere in the middle) of this discussion. She is more conservative in her thoughts than probably I am.

Let’s look at the other side of the discussion. Our world now is so inter-related that it is hard to untangle countries to shore up just by itself. Can you fix economy of one country at a time? Look at how the global market now work in tandem. This is a chart of DOW (New York), FTSE (London), Hangseng (Hongkong) and Nikkei (Tokyo) during the peak of market crash in Sept/Oct 2008.

In some regard, we are part of one big system with our own uniqueness and differences - knitted together. It is one BIG market that goes up and down together.

Current global recession is about choices that will determine how America and the world shapes up in the decades to come. Will we remain on the path of open economy, free trade;  global competition; etc. or we start to see the rise of nationalism and protective policies. Will we fight or flight? It is about the choices we will make. 

Thomas Friedman recently penned his opinion in New York Times discussing the same.  I like how he captured the spirit of America.

“Dear America, please remember how you got to be the wealthiest country in history. It wasn’t through protectionism, or state-owned banks or fearing free trade. No, the formula was very simple: build this really flexible, really open economy, tolerate creative destruction so dead capital is quickly redeployed to better ideas and companies, pour into it the most diverse, smart and energetic immigrants from every corner of the world and then stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat, stir and repeat.“

I say – let’s go stir and repeat…

Be a fisherman

While driving back home yesterday, I tuned in to the NPR as a routine habit. At that time, I happen to catch a story on Fishermen’s life – particularly how they deal with the highs and lows in their life. In fact it is the only way of life a fisherman knows. Various thought sparked in my mind and prime being – what a tough life!!! One would wonder how to tackle life when nothing is predictable or usual. To top off the story – it is amazing that fishermen encourage their kids to follow the same profession. It must be the love of fishing.

Anyway, I thought the story appropriate to share given current tough business environment. Check it out or listen to the audio.

(The audio is 5 min or so long)

3 thoughts, I picked up:

1. Cooperate and Collaborate – foster your community; commit to it, help and support each other

2. One has to love the line of business so much to encourage your kids to follow the same

3. Above all – have a positive ATTITUDE. It is THE difference

Find good people around you who share your enthusiasm and “can-do” attitude and let’s go to bat (fish) together. Enjoy!!!

Weekend wrap

Few stories caught my attention as I wrap up the weekend:

1. Use of hologram during election coverage by CNN. I am not sure how many saw it during the telecast on Tuesday. It looked cool on TV. Although technology remains some what weak.  Also, some time back Cisco shared its telepresence initiative that is making buzz as well.

Anyway – Gizmodo has details on how holograms were brought to life during election coverage. Check it out.

2. Need entrepreneurs. While I am on the topic of election – I was reading an article on Forbes written by Sramana Mitra about President Obama and his promise to create 5 million jobs. Her point to create 5 million jobs will require creating 50,000 entrepreneurs. I agree. Listening to entrepreneurs and nurturing a supportive environment is what will take get economy back on track.

3. Is humility and ignorance a missing trait in business environment? This article from James Montier on investment captures the thought well. Somewhere along the line people start to appear know-all; can’t-fail, over-confident bunch. Anyway, few nuggets from the article that caught my attention: 

Quote from Confucius: “To ask a question is but a moment’s shame, but to live in ignorance is lifelong shame”

“…that we need to learn more and more about less and less until we know everything about nothing…”

Can east keep its edge

Both China and India largely used to be the nation of bicycle. Both countries are growing leaps and bounds. I just hope both countries can find a good balance between modernization and tradition to keep the pendulum from moving too far. Also, hopefully learn from what West is trying to do to encourage more eco-friendly environment.

Now at much of Europe you can rent a bicycle (and it is gaining prominence) to go around locally – particulalry when you are travelling in the heart of the city.

Here is a sampler – from Europe, China and India – all happily biking away.

Imagineering

Last couple of week, I watched Discovery channel “Project Earth” series. It showcases ideas that environmental engineers are working on to reverse the global warming and reduce carbon dioxide in our environment.

One thing that occured to me watching the series is the imagination of people involved. Although, most of the ideas are still scratching the surface of the huge environmental problems and true large scale deployment remains elusive – but the thought process is simply remarkable.

Consider these ideas:

1. Cover the ice cap with reflective material to reduce the polar cap melting

2. Re-ciruclate the ocean water from far deep to start the fertilization process in the Ocean that can help soak carbon dioxide from the environment and over time green vegetation sink taking carbon to the watery grave

3. Shoot some mirrors in the sky to reflect sun light back cooling the earth

4. How about creating clouds in the Ocean and use wind pattern to help cover the earth with clouds again blocking sun rays resulting in cooler temperature

5. My personal favorite – how about building a helium filled (kind of blimp) rotationary wind turbine high in the sky tethered with wires to the ground generating electricity using wind energy. Essentially mining winds at high elevation thus making wind energy feasible around the globe.

and on and on…how bright brains are tackling to help slow down the melting process or some how soak carbon out of our environment.

It just speak to the human spirit who on the face of seemingly impossible task find a way to make it happen. All the global warming and over $4 a gallon gas has created enough sense of urgency for us to put planet first and find solution that remove our dependency on fossil fuel.

Well done is better than well said…

Earlier today, I was watching an interview of Arnold Schwarzenegger on ABC. In response to a question he quoted his belief around “Well done is better than well said”. I love it…

Action just speak louder than the words. It is great to be of creative mind and think new ideas. But the fun is in converting those ideas and making it real.

Which idea do you want to work on today?

PS: This quote gets originally attributed to Benjamin Franklin.

One laptop per child (OLPC)

I came to know about this initiative couple of year back from an article in Fortune. It was an interview with Nick Negroponte – founder of the OLPC initiative.

At the time the effort was in development stage. I remember discussion around the computer to be less than $100; some kind of hand crank process to charge the batteries given much of the developing world don’t have reliable electricity supply; building it rugged for longer life and low maintenance need. Also, there was controversy about laptop going out with an open source alternative (namely Sugar) as opposed to the popular Microsoft Windows.

It is good to see the effort maturing and the laptops made available to the kids in several countries. So as I stumbled on some articles on OLPC this weekend – it is interesting to observe changes/improvement including solar powered battery charger; mesh network to chain these laptops building collaborative infrastructure; and supporting Microsoft clients beside open source (Sugar) available on these machines.

Final price $188. Not bad.

And improving as the next phase gets in development touted XO 2.0 or XOXO with dual touch screen.

 

Here is a review of the laptop on Youtube.

Now comes the responsible (hard) part – ensuring right social behavior gets instilled as millions of kids gets connected and are now accessible to unrestrained information sources; reliable or otherwise. Hole in the wall experiment highlighted some of the accomplishments and challenges in this regard.

Also, I happen to stumble on an article from universities in India quoting to attempt to deliver a laptop for $10.

 

Social communities at its best

Someday you happen to stumble on a story that just amazes you. I happen to come across an article on Kiva.org. It is building a community that matches people who want to give with the people who could use some help around the world. Kiva has taken micro-financing to a new level by combining the power of Internet with the power of human spirit.

Personally, I like how Kiva identifies people as entrepreneurs who could use micro loan and help improve life of a family.

You can learn more about Kiva at its site Kiva.org. Following Youtube clip provide a glimpse of the Kiva goals. Become a lender.

Grameen Shakti

While browsing through “Sun & Wind Energy” – a magazine on Renewable Energy, I stumbled on an affordable renewable energy alternative article for the developing world. This has been near and dear to my heart for sometime. I suggested few of the requirement in an earlier post here.

So just like that – as I am browsing the magazine I come to know about Grameen Shakti. It is an organization in Bangladesh trying to provide electricity to the population that otherwise would spend their night around a kerosene lamp. This is another Grameen initiative from Mohammed Yunus and his team who started the concept of micro financing.

Here are some of the photographs:-  

    

This video on Grameen Shakti captures the mission of the organization well. I like the quote …[Grameen Shakti] not just lightning up the lives but expanding their ambition…

Having an affordable electricity source has such a deep impact on improving the lives of millions. It is a tremendous source of hope and possibilities as remote (and otherwise lost) part of the world connects to the modern infrastructure. This is a start to get everyone connected to the modern economy.

Here are some excerpt on Grameen Shakti’s accomplishment and its homepage.

Hope is alive that one day renewable energy will be able to power the world – including the ones that have yet to connect to the modern economy.

Earth day 2007

           

I happen to watch the tail end of 20/20 on ABC tonight. It reminded me of the affordable energy source alternatives that I blogged sometime back here and here. This discussion remains close to my heart. It has the propensity to come up on various social occasions – particularly when I am around my friends from India who have some-kind of association with rural India.

So following what other bloggers do – shamelessly promoting to know like minded individuals. Here I am looking for people who are already involved or have the knowhow to provide reliable alternative (read solar) energy at an affordable cost that can scale to meet large community needs.

One approach that gets suggested often is providing solar energy alternative at an affordable price point with some kind of co-operative model leveraging booming retail industry’s supply chain in India to make energy alternatives broadly available in rural India. India has various successful and large grass roots efforts in different sectors. Like Micro-financing, various handicraft small scale industries, Dabba, Lijjat Papad, etc. So anyone out there promoting large scale reliable solar energy alternatives at affordable cost?

Party with a cause

Help the cause of several poor kids in the developing world by donating new kids book or cash at the TiE-Rockies holiday party on Dec 12th at Dazzle. Details of the event is on TiE-Rockies website. TiE-Rockies has partnered with Room To Read during this holiday season to help spread hope and make the world a better place. I mentioned Room To Read in one of my earlier blog here.

PS: Here is the list of the books that Room To Read recommend to help the cause.

Hole in the wall

I recently read Dr. Sugata Mitra’s experiment of “Hole in the wall” and how kids living in the slum of India learned basic computer skills on their own. An interesting experiment suggesting how kids in young age are motivated to self learning and picks up the needed computer skills on their own – while adults require hand holding to accomplish the same skills. I am sure this is a generalization – but where does this fire in the belly to learn and be self-motivated goes away as kids become adults?

Anyway, this effort has great potential to help poor kids who otherwise would not have access to computers. Based on the success of Dr. Mitra’s earlier experiment, “Hole in the wall” is expanding its effort. They are making computers available more broadly across poor neighborhoods now spanning in India and Cambodia.

Here is an old interview of Dr. Mitra about his experiment.

Going Solar

Recently, Google announced its plan to go solar at its headquarters. Several wealthy individuals, investors, companies are deeply committed to the cause of making the environment better. But this is good corporate example where a company is going beyond contributing money or investing to the cause - to actually doing what it believes helps the environment. This is a fair size effort with a capacity of 1.6 megawatts – to the tune of generating enough electricity for 1,000+ homes. We will see how other follows to such a trend as there are good economic reasons to do this as well.

It’ll be interesting to see when would such energy alternatives become widely available as a bundled offering at cheaper cost to tip the scale for mass adoption at consumer level. I mentioned some of the needs earlier and will be willing to hear what others say on mass adoption.

Long tail of charity

I am sure we all look for meaningful ways to contribute back to the roots that provided us all the support we needed when we were growing up.

Recently, I come to know about Room to Read and instantly liked their model of engagement – both at the donor’s end and the recipient’s end. It is founded by John Wood who used to be an ex-Microsoft executive. He wrote his calling and how he started Room to Read in his book “Leaving Microsoft….”. In some sense, it is the “long tail” of philanthropy that has all the potential to scale and bring the systemic changes needed at the global level as macro business/technology trends continues to make this world smaller and smaller.

On donor’s end – having a transparent system with low overhead helps them know how their contribution is truly helping. No smoke screen or black hole where money goes and you have no idea who/where it end up helping. It is a great crowd puller where people can relate to the meaningful impact they are doing in the world at their own capacity.

Also, partnership model with the local community that is benefiting from the charity is a great way (possible systemic way to bring the change) to make any contribution successful. It brings their skin in the game needed to cultivate the proud ownership and a feeling of accomplishment on their part necessary to bring social change. At the end of the day charities that just hand out money to a cause without much community participation loose the luster and fail in bringing the systemic change.

I have always admired successful micro-financing model work in Bangladesh done by Mohamad Yunus. The model that Room to Read uses also reflects several similar aspect.

Bottomline – I am a believer that solving world literacy is the key to several of our modern day problems in the society today. Ironically, it is more visible in the populous part of the world. May be success of model like Room to Read has the potential to eradicate the world with such flaws.

From what I gather, Room to Read funds a girl education for a year at $250; builds a library at $2,000; builds a school in a village at $8,000. To help just reach out to Room to Read – I am sure they will be thrilled to hear.

PS: I am in no way associated with Room to Read program.

Want to make the world a better place?

I would like to know thoughts from the fellow netizens whatever field you work on (say social enterpreneurship arena or folks from sustainable development/energy industry) to suggests what can be done here. This is something near and dear to my heart so looking for ideas that can be converted at mass scale level. Here is what I am looking for:-

How to package alternative energy source (say solar energy) as an end product cheaply that can help produce electricity, heat and other energy needs for developing countries like India. Specifically targeting this to the rural India that lacks infrastructure and remains poor from affordability stand point. Some key requirements that I think are must to meet:-

1. Standalone product - not dependent on other infrastructure to be available
2. Easy to install – since we are talking mass adoption
3. Easily plugs into and works with the existing electrical wiring and fixtures, if there are any
4. Able to power up basic amenities – light bulbs, fans, etc. Basic home appliances.
5. Easy to ship/transport
6. Rugged – can sustain weather and rough/tough handling
7. Reliable life span. Remember in countries like India people usually don’t recycle stuff that easily.
8. Scalable technology/product – for mass adoption
9. Low cost of the initial product – folks can’t buy expensive product. It’ll be even hard to sell less costly alternative. Some additional thoughts need to come in to identify cooperative or other model that can help fund the cost of the product and its usage.
10. Minimal/no cost of the running product
11. Easily and cheaply maintenance for regular wear and tear (or replaced)

Any and all thoughts that can help progress the discussion are welcome.

Colorado Gubernatorial Technology Forum – 2006

On Sept 8th, candidates for the Colorado governor race – Bob Beauprez (Republican) and Bill Ritter (Democrat) will provide their perspective on the technology landscape at Colorado. This will be a great event to hear from both the candidates on how they see the health of technology industry in Colorado.

Colorado has one of the highest concentration of technology workers. It will be good to hear what candidates have to say on how Colorado can create more successful entrepreneurs – attracting more investment and technology companies needed to keep a healthy eco system for its technology citizen.

The event will be held at Browne Place @ 11:30 AM. For more details on the event and to register visit TiE-Rockies. Event will be moderated by local VCs Jack Tankersley (Republican) and Brad Feld (Democrat).