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Design Education Globalization Technology

Hey Intel, play nice

Intel received a lot of negative PR (rightfully so) when 60 minutes aired an interview with Nicholas Negroponte from MIT. He has worked to produce an affordable laptop for children living in third world countries. This project is called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and is a great example of people making the world a better place.

olpcFollowing a lot of positive press on how he was helping change access to technology Intel announced they would begin selling an almost identical laptop to the same audience.

Bad move Intel.

As a very successful company Intel missed an initial opportunity to not only give away their chips to this project but “selling” a computer in this situation…very bad. And to a large extent the 60 minutes interview allowed Intel to reconsider.

As you may have learned, yesterday Intel buried the hatchet with Nicholas and has joined the OLPC program. At this point — its never too late — they are now helping OLPC make this world a better place. Nice ending.

Tags: OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, Nicholas Negroponte, Intel, Globalization, technology

Categories
Design Education Globalization Reading Technology

Latest read: A Whole New Mind

Daniel Pink’s second book A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future is a great, easy read for everyone. In today’s very competitive business market, college or non-profit Dan’s new views on tapping creative minds will ensure success moving forward.

There are several examples of how business must change in order to not just compete…but survive in today’s globalized economy.

It was somewhat refreshing to basically see Tom Friedman‘s influence from The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century stitched into Pink’s writing. And he could not be more accurate.

GM’s well publicized struggles continue. But their struggle is not against Japan. They have new competition on the automobile producing block…from India and China.

Why? Well lets start with the fact that both India and China can begin building state of the art robotic assembly plants with cheaper labor resulting in India producing brand new cars for only $2,500.

This actually points to another Friedman reference from The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization where we learned only a small handful of humans produce Lexus cars…robots do the rest. So India and China can move past the hurdle of long standing contract, benefit and retirement costs bogging down GM to win the race to sell their products on the American marketplace.

Categories
Design Education Globalization Reading Technology

Latest read: The Ten Faces of Innovation

This book by IDEO‘s found Tom Kelley is a good, interesting and fairly quick read. In his book The Ten Faces of Innovation Kelley has outlined the opportunity to identify, empower and reward the ten types of employees you may have in your company.
10 Faces of InnovationWho can make your organization think differently and succeed in today’s marketplace or school?

This is a refreshing look at the demands of today’s aggressive business climate — regardless if your in a Fortune 100 company, small non-profit or educational institution.

While some elements are a bit over-hyped (examples are IDEO’s clients — surprise!) the basic message is to look and empower new thinking.

I was surprised to learn his brother knew about .mp3s before Napster….but so did millions already on the internet finding them in newsgroups.

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Technology

iPhone: Therefore I am

Pretty amazed that my wife picked up an iPhone…for me!

iphone

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Education Globalization Milwaukee Technology

Family video conference

Father’s Day was quite a day. In utilizing all the technologies available, Maggie and I were able to introduce Max to his cousins in Michigan and extended family in Ohio all via internet video. We have been so busy with his first three weeks of life that our trip to Ohio has not been booked at this point. Many family emailed and were eager to see him in person. Plopped my Powerbook on the couch and fired up iChat and spoke with family.

webconference

The built-in video camera provided the source and we had a wireless video conference from Milwaukee to Toledo Ohio — where my 96 year old Grandmother was able to see Maxwell for the first time.

Tags: iChat, Video Conference, wireless video, Father’s Day, trends