30Jan
Filed in Economy | Technology
Here are a few of my own observations:
• OUTSOURCING · It looks like a hit-or-miss business but every company wants to do it. The key for the provider is getting to scale quickly enough to be able to provide services superior to in-house folks at a cost effective price. Also the expertise needs to be the biggest differentiator. Its all the same model as Law Firms, CPA’s etc… and it was the same with Viant. Like any other product or service, you need to differentiate on Cost or Quality … you either need to manage/train/hire a workforce in a “LCR” or low-cost region (China, India, Mexico) or have in-house expertise that business can’t develop cheaply on their own.
• INCREASED IT SPENDING · I’ve heard a lot of chatter about it in the press, but I didn’t start seeing it until last quarter when orders started coming in and folks started complaining about being swamped. But that’s just a microscopic view … will it last? will it improve? It’s anybody’s guess and there are a lot of things that could change it: world events ( Terrorism, Iraq, Afghan, SARS); the Fed (raising rates); and the election.
• NEW TECHNOLOGY · There’s a lot of buzz about Nanotechnology these days but I think it needs a “killer app” to get everyone to spend money on it. I don’t know anything about how to get into it but its something that offers the promise of disruptive technology (like computers, the internet, biotech).
Economy, IT, outsourcing, Technology
23Jan
Filed in Ethics | Management | USA politics
BusinessPundit talks about this movement which according to The Economist is
One of the biggest corporate fads of the 1990s—less overpowering, no doubt, than dotcom mania, but also longer-lived—was the flowering of “corporate social responsibility†(CSR). The idea that it is not enough for firms to make money for their owners is one that you might expect to be an article of faith among anti-globalists and eco-warriors. Many bosses now share, or say they share, the same conviction.
Ethics, Management, Politics
14Jan
Filed in Economy | Publishing | Technology
Rob Greenlee, Host WebTalk Radio, predicts:
1. The decline of the web browser usage on the desktop as a way to get to web content
2. The growth of Internet applications – the executable Internet
3. All things wireless
4. Digital media enters the living room
5. Professional journalistic weblogs are syndicated through RSS
6. Microsoft mobile platforms
7. Voice over IP (VoIP) makes mainstream calls
8. Internet radio growth and revenue
9. Online search extends beyond web
10. How online popularity is creating world wide celebrities
Economy, Publishing, trends, web
14Jan
Filed in Economy | Management | Publishing
Stephen Downes in his predictions for 2004 suggest that a form of “non-blog blogging” will begin to emerge. He describes this as a way to tap into the views and opinions held by the vast majority of people who will not write publicly.
Downes also predicts that 2004 will be the year of personalization. He focuses this personalization around topic based feeds, which deliver only the content that is of interest to that user.
Economy, IT, Management, Publishing, Technology, web
14Jan
Filed in Economy | Management | Technology | Venture capital
Bill Gurley outlines the future trends in VC investing via the ever present 2 x 2 matrix (Accurate vs. Inaccurate x Conventional vs. Non-conventional). Of course, we can all agree that inaccurate predictions are worthless. Gurley suggests the Conventional/Accurate predictions are also worth very little. The market prices the high expectations into a marketable security while the early stage investors fund too many companies for the market.
predictions, trends, Venture capital
12Jan
Filed in Publishing | Technology | USA politics
Clark TechCorps – Political Action through Open Source Technology
Clark was relatively quick to allow the digital literate to contribute what they may, after the national newspapers covered what the Dean campaign was doing. Will it matter?
We’re glad today to announce Clark TechCorps, a technology community initiative to pioneer the development of open source software for political campaigns.
Through the development of open source software, TechCorps promotes both organizational transparency and core democratic principles, allowing technologists to simultaneously get involved in the Clark campaign and develop critical software for political action.
TechCorps encourages participation from programmers, designers, technical writers and enthusiasts.
In coordination with the announcement of TechCorps, the Clark Campaign will also be releasing several internal technology projects under the BSD license.
open source, Politics, Technology