Smart-sourcing strategies: Technology, Business, Finance

Shawnee, KS to Minneapolis, MN via Waterloo, IA via KY

Last week I had an opportunity to drive from Shawnee, KS to Minneapolis, MN. Along the way I stopped in Waterloo, IA for a meeting. Here are pictures from that trip.  

At Shawnee, KS.

 

 Hot summer afternoon on Interstate.  

 

Welcome to Iowa. 

 

Imes Bridge. Madison County IA. Bridges of Madison County. This one is very close to interstate exit (less than 2 miles) a must stop if you are traveling on I35 and are short on time. Other bridges are 12 miles inside.  

Imes Bridge from inside.

H O T in Iowa. with heat index it was above 100 at almost all places.

Dave's restaurant. Charles City, IA. This is a best little restaurant in Charles City, IA. Fried Chicken is absolutely delicious.

Pune Rain: Where forecasting failed.

Pune had its largest single day rainfall on Monday - 181.4 mm (7.3 inches). It rained very heavy later that day and that too at rush-hour leaving all Punekars helpless. Mantra has a large team in Pune and it was evident while talking with all of them that they all were frustrated for a lack of early warnings / alerts from Meteorological department.  

There were flash floods in many areas with some tragic deaths.This downpour was sudden, unexpected and so city was totally un-informed and un-prepared for the same.

Ironically Pune has India's oldest and (now most technolgically updated) Meteorological department. Pune also has large pool of talent available across all branches of science and technology. And yet, for example, just a mile behind its campus, Pune's City commissioner allegedly got swept away in a powerful flash flood currents in his residence campus.

AFTER the rain had "happened", the department came out with a proper, scientific explanation.

There real problem is - why didn't they came out with a weather aleart BEFORE it happened?

Why even in 2010 Meteorological department failed to forecast it well in advance?

 

Kindle's Audio Mode - On the road and in the Bed!

Last week I bought couple of books to read on my Kindle. One is Checklist (The Checklist Manifest) by Atul Gawande. And, second book a corporate thriller, The CEO, written by CEO and a long time client of my company Steve Bederman.

In a rush to finish both the books quickly, as both are thrillers, this time I chose to listen the books instead of reading. Generally speaking, my speed of English reading is much slower than with some other languages such as Hindi or Marathi. So, listening the books literally sounded like a best option.

Very next day, after I bought my books, I took a one day road trip to Birmingham, AL. It was for business and between conference calls, I thought I would be able to listen some book. However listening to Kindle built-in audio without using a plug-in or car audio was not so good experience. With road sound, high interstate speed I just could not listen properly without holding Kindle close enough.
Point: When you are planning on listening to Kindle on a long drive, a car audio in plug in for Kindle would be best.

So on weekend, on Saturday night, I decided to cut short my TV time and, instead, decided to listen to my new books. This time sound and overall experience was great. I could really get myself into the story and experience was kind of like Nirvana! But, sometime later I dozed off and Kindle kept on going. In the morning, it took me 20 minutes to go back and find where I last left and start from there.
Point: When you are going to reading / listening for a long time, you might want to bookmark where you start (and of course when you stop). 

Happy Listening!

In 2020, Take a High-Speed Train from Beijing to London

 

Chinese rail passengers already zip between cities on trains traveling three times faster than the average train in the States, and a 217-mph line linking Wuhan and Guangzhou will soon be the fastest train on Earth. But not content with screaming-fast trains linking cities within its borders, China now plans to extend its high-speed network all the way to London with a rail line that will fly through 17 countries at speeds reaching 200 miles per hour.

Article says that China will make all the necessary investments in infrastructure in all the countries that will be carrying this fast pass train. What's in it for China? - In exchange they will ask for a share in natural resources of those respective countries have - Oil, Natural Gas, Minerals, etc. Very Interesting!

I live in Alpharetta, GA. I know that for many years local and state officials in Atlanta and Georgia are talking about connecting Atlanta to Chattanooga, TN with fast rail. Main purpose is to divert some of the air traffic from Atlanta International airport (The busiest airport in the world) and provide passengers an easy, fast, non-stop transit. Similar plans are in talks (again, not much action!) to connect L.A. and San Francisco. I am not sure if either of this plan will materialize anytime soon, but looking at China's astonishing speed of project execution over last couple of decades, no one should be surprised if they finish this project before 2020. Watch out India!

Business Innovation and Impact of Blue Oceans

Here is a good article from Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi in WSJ. Dr. Moorthi is Professor at one of the prestigious management institute in India. He has great mastery and authority on business management  subject. 

He has made some very good observations in his article, particularly about Nokia being the #1 camera seller in India and Airtel being the #1 music seller in India.

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India?

Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. The answer is: None of the above. The winner is Nokia, whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cellphones.

The reason is that cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling standalone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all.

Try this. Who runs the biggest music business in India? The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel earns more than music companies do by selling albums.

However, I don't completely agree about some of his other observations and predictions.

Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware, where prices consistently fall. Between 1977 and 1991, prices of the now-dead VCR crashed to one third of their original levels in India. PC prices also dropped. If this trend repeats itself, then videoconferencing prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then.

Basic difference between VCR, PC and Videoconferencing is this - VCR and PC each were products by itself. Once could use each of these products (VCR with a cassette and PC with monitor, of-course)  by itself. Videoconferencing is not a product but a service. Hardware is just one component of it. Other one, and major one, is bandwidth. Looking at struggle between and Apple and AT&T in USA over bandwidth and  AT&T planning to charge more heavy usage - chances are Videoconferencing cost possibly might go up in short to mid term before (after considerable time) it will come down.

Same is true for his example of airline industry. 

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways for international flights in India? Singapore Airlines? Indian Airlines? Maybe, but there is a more interesting answer: The videoconferencing services of Hewlett-Packard and Cisco.

This observations is true for only business travel. Although, videoconferencing will adversely impact business travel in India, most of this impact will be nullified by new middle class leisure travelers. This new, upper middle class is air traveling more and traveling frequent. And it is becoming very common for this class to fly to Dubai, Malaysia, Thailand and even to Europe for small and long vacations. So, I think, Yes, there will be impact and airlines will need to change their offering to attract families and vacationers. But they will not have the same fate as type-writers or fountain pens.

Do you actually read mode with Kindle?

  I am not 4 weeks in to my Kindle and I absolutely loved it. Reading is not same anymore and the fact that I can carry my all favorite books at once is great!

I typically read 2-3 books at same time – combination of memoirs, business books and some light fiction. Taking all these books with me anytime, anywhere has saved me lot of early decisions o f what I might liked to read later in the day.

With the easy wireless – I find buying books a bit more addictive and impulsive. It’s as much like buying a pack of cigarettes… in a good sense rather.  

Best thing is – I am reading lot more these days than I used to but always wanted to! I can squeeze reading in to a tight schedule easily and 10, 15 minutes add up. Does Kindle actually helps you reading more books?