FoxNews has posted an article written via PCMagazine regarding OLPC. I’m pleased to see this laptop being described as “a game changer for disadvantaged children in developing countries.”
The article lists Fox’s parent company News Corporation as a backer of the OLPC project, but when viewing the OLPC website no mention of News Corporation is easily identifiable…
Tags: OLPC, FoxNews, Give 1 Get 1 , News Corporation, globalization, trends
Could BMW’s future cars support IPv6 before your next office network upgrade? Maybe. Work already underway confirms BMW developments in artificial intelligence have moved from the multiple flavors of auto-specific networking standards to internet protocol IPv6 for the next generation of auto (and person) communication.
Its no surprise engineers connect standard PCs to analyze engine and chassis control systems. But the opportunities to configure a multimedia server for the auto’s entertainment system is instep with tomorrow’s demands of mobile communication. Naturally it would be expected that your BMW’s diagnostics would be linked in real-time to your repair shop.
Digital Rights Management or DRM, has been a controversial snippet of software embedded into music files for a long time. Regardless of how you feel about Microsoft’s PlaysForSure DRM wrapper or Apple’s FairPlay for iTunes it appears the coming death of DRM is from two powerhouses in online sales: Amazon and Wal-Mart.
Funny that Microsoft’s own DRM software will not run on their Zune product. Wal-Mart ditched DRM music in August and a month later Amazon’s site launched DRM free. With larger numbers of online shoppers, the control over digital rights now sit in the hands of the big resellers and not the music industry or even technology companies.
PS – The disappointment with Wal-Mart is their decision to NOT support Mac or Linux systems for downloading music. Not a good sign for a lot of users.
Tags: Amazon, Walmart, music store, music download, Fairplay, PlaysForSure, The Long Tail, trends
Nicholas Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) program is underway with another order from Peru! I was pleased to read this in Saturday’s Boston Globe. Despite criticism from the media and computer manufactures, OLPC has made a significant milestone (and impact) in signing its first country Uruguay and now Peru’s order is just over 250,000 units. This is all about making a difference in the lives of poor children in poor schools in very poor countries. But I must ask: Have you ever watched as much press about the launch of a laptop before?
I’m amazed at those who continue to write that WinTel (Intel and Microsoft) should be in this “market.” Actually when someone writes how a ‘market’ is a collection of the poorest countries in the world – being pitched by the two richest companies in the world – something just doesn’t sit right. Actually it should stand out like a sore thumb.
I was pissed Intel would “create” a PC for this market. For one of the richest, most successful companies today to whore themselves to the poorest school children on the planet is disgusting. Additional companies in Taiwan, India and Israel trying to profit should be ashamed as well. Intel has never manufactured a laptop in their history for the low end education market – yet jumped at the chance to profit off the poorest kids in third world countries?
Since Intel and Microsoft have been around since the beginning of the PC revolution, why did it take MIT’s Media Center Director to develop this movement while Intel and Microsoft are just trying to profit from it? What does this really say about Paul Otellini Intel’s CEO? Clearly Intel and Microsoft are not leaders but followers.
Suzanne Berger and MIT’s Industrial Performance Center wrote a book after concluding a five year study of the new global economy How We Compete: What Companies Around the World Are Doing to Make it in Today’s Global Economy.
If you want to learn more about globalization, this is a necessary addition to your bookshelf. Today companies must compete.
The study moves beyond the often discussed Dell approach to manufacturing. Lessons from auto and textile industries are included and should not be missed. How America can compete against the global marketplace?
Students entering the real world after school makes this book mandatory reading before graduating … from high school. By the time your set to graduate from college — it may be too late.
Companies that need to compete are shifting production … sometimes to very interesting locations for very interesting business reasons. Understanding this process and the major impacts of globalization will help us all prepare for tomorrow’s shifting economic climate. There are powerful lessons from many industries that have shifted into a highly competitive marketplace with a global reach. In doing so, these companies now compete with global brands.
Globalization can be very complicated. This book suggests very intriguing lessons from companies who need to compete are outsourcing their products, production lines or selected low end solution simply to survive against the competition.
We have a lot to learn from the Japanese and the Italians!