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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: pltodms who wrote (32097)	11/16/2009 8:44:40 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 46821

Excellent find, pltodms. Thanks. I'm half-way through the 45min podcast, as I type. FAC ------

To: pltodms who wrote (32097)	11/17/2009 1:55:14 AM
From: Frank A. Coluccio	Respond to of 46821

The Curious Threshold For Creativity arxiv.org \| MIT Technology Review November 16, 2009 A new model of society suggests that we should spend no more than 50 percent of our time being creative When it comes to creativity, it's easy to imagine that more is better. Creativity lies at the heart of science. It solves problems and drives innovation. Then there's the small matter of art and literature. Humanity's self expression and aesthetic explorations are born of our creative drive. And yet creativity has its downsides too, say Stefan Leijnen and Liane Gabora at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Creative solutions can only spread if they are adopted by other individuals. These imitators play an important role in society. They act as a kind of memory, storing the results of successful creative strategies for future generations. But the time that individuals spend creating means less time imitating. Clearly we cannot all be creators all the time but neither can we all be imitators. Cont.: technologyreview.com ------

To: pltodms who wrote (32097)	11/17/2009 5:41:57 AM
From: axial	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

Plato, inspiring post. However there's a dark side to the story of invention: "In the 14 years I served as Microsoft's first chief technology officer, I saw this firsthand across the ranks of the computer industry. Tech companies work extremely hard to use state-of-the-art technology, and either be first to market or a fast follower -- all else falls by the wayside. Big tech companies are happy to hire the best people from rivals, universities and small companies. Their employees attend conferences and study technical papers to stay on the cutting edge. But they pretend that the patents on the technology in those papers, or from universities or small companies, don't exist. Many of the largest tech companies have a standing policy that engineers are not allowed to read patents or check whether their work infringes. Why bother to look, if you know you'll find lots of infringement? Besides the cost, it's a distraction that might hurt time to market. Their strategy is simple -- damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead." The full piece is by Nathan Mryhvold, now CEO of Intellectual Ventures: online.wsj.com --- Or this: " ... What is actually going on now is a massive land grab underway by large corporations, looking to keep the fruits of entrepreneurs and innovators labor for themselves. These are not meek and vulnerable entities at the mercy of lawyers; rather, these are very astute players seeking to use the patent to further their own goals -- often at the expense of innovation... ...The stealing of entrepreneurial innovation by large firms is fairly common place. My own experience with patent enforcement is that it is an enormously expensive, difficult, time consuming venture, fraught with peril. Consider the case of Robert Kearns, the inventor of the intermittant windshield wiper. In 1967, he received several patents on his design, which he tried to license to the Big 3 in Detroit. They sent him packing, but later the intermittant windshield wiper somehow found its way into autos. Long story short, he ended up in litigation for decades before finally winning. Thats decades later...." Barry Ritholtz, at The Big Picture; full article bigpicture.typepad.com --- Invention is a wonderful and useful process. But the practice of invention has been frustrated by corporate predation on the rewards. Jim

To: pltodms who wrote (32097)	12/5/2009 5:55:59 PM
From: axial	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

India's Next Global Export: Jugaad -snip- "A Hindi slang word, jugaad (pronounced "joo-gaardh") translates to an improvisational style of innovation that's driven by scarce resources and attention to a customer's immediate needs, not their lifestyle wants. It captures how Tata Group, Infosys Technologies, and other Indian corporations have gained international stature. The term seems likely to enter the lexicon of management consultants, mingling with Six Sigma, total quality, lean, and kaizen, the Japanese term for continuous improvement. Like previous management concepts, Indian-style innovation could be a fad. Moreover, because jugaad essentially means inexpensive invention on the fly, it can imply cutting corners, disregarding safety, or providing shoddy service. "Jugaad means 'Somehow, get it done,' even if it involves corruption," cautions M.S. Krishnan, a Ross business school professor. "Companies have to be careful. They have to pursue jugaad with regulations and ethics in mind." More than a Fad? The rise of jugaad raises another question: Do companies really need to pay someone to tell them something that's as elementary as keep it simple? "Having a consulting industry built around jugaad is almost anathema to the word itself," says Robert C Wolcott, executive director of Northwestern University's Kellogg Innovation Network. "I'm not sure how this is different from old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity." Nonetheless, jugaad seems aligned with the times. Recession-slammed corporations no longer have money to burn on research and development. Likewise, U.S. consumers are trading down to good-enough products and services. Meantime, the Indian economy continues to plow ahead despite the global recession, it grew at a 7.9% clip in the third quarter, suggesting its executives have a winning strategy. Already, companies as varied as Best Buy, Cisco Systems, and Oracle are employing jugaad as they create products and services that are more economical both for supplier and consumer. "In today's challenging times, American companies are forced to learn to operate with Plan Bs," notes Radjou. "But Indian engineers have long known how to invent with a whole alphabet soup of options that work, are cheap, and can be rolled out instantly. That is jugaad." economictimes.indiatimes.com Jim

To: pltodms who wrote (32097)	1/19/2010 1:20:12 AM
From: axial	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 46821

U.S. Maintains Science Lead, But Asia Gains Some Ground -SNIP- The U.S. accounted for nearly a third of $1.1 trillion spent on research and development globally in 2007, minted more science and engineering doctorates than any other country, and led the world in innovative activity. Efforts by China and other developing Asian countries to boost their science and engineering capabilities are bearing fruit, however, and the gap between them and the U.S., though still wide, is narrowing. For the 10 years ending in 2007, the most recent year for which the data were available, spending on research and development grew between 5% and 6% annually in the U.S., Japan and the European Union. Similar spending in India, South Korea and Taiwan grew an average 9% to 10% a year over the same period. In China, it averaged more than 20%. online.wsj.com Jim