Best Engaging Communities

PC shipments and the Acer brand

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 01:23:00 GMT

A 30% drop for Dell, 17% for HP but 7-8% drop for Acer during the last few quarters shows how Acer is taking marketshare away from DELL in the recent past. Amazingly they are only focused on one of the many markets - Notebooks and Netbooks.

Shows how transitions in product cycles can create opportunities for new entrants.

As a company, where would you go looking for new ideas? Innovation?

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:32:00 GMT

The WSJ reports:

When companies try to come up with new ideas, they too often look only where they always look. That won’t get them anywhere.

The ideas are typically at the edge of a company’s radar screen, and sometimes a bit beyond: trends in peripheral industries, unserved needs in foreign markets, activities that aren’t part of the company’s core business. To be truly innovative, companies sometimes have to change their frames of reference, extend their search space. New ways of thinking and organization can be required as well.

InnoCentive.com is a site where people and companies look for help in solving scientific and business challenges. Posters of challenges sometimes offer cash rewards for solutions: Amounts have ranged from $5,000 to $1 million. The site began as an in-house tool for research scientists at Eli Lilly & Co. to help one another. Now it is independent, with Indianapolis-based Lilly as a founding shareholder.

Sometimes innovations arise when different departments talk to each other. But what’s the best way to start the conversation?

Many companies set up so-called communities of practice, which are typically internal Web sites where employees are encouraged to share knowledge and skills important to the company.

Teens and Media consumption

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:53:00 GMT

Nielsen released the "How teens use media" report.

Its a fascinating read overall.

1. They are more focused - they view one media type at a time.
2. They have better recall - they tend to remember ads and consider ads as content (if good)
3. They read newspapers - really? No really!
4. Television is still the most dominant form of media for teenagers.
5. The most popular genres for U.S. teens are Evening Animation, Participation/ Variety and General Drama.
6. In South Africa, teens averaged more than five hours per day of TV viewing. In Taiwan, teens averaged just two hours and 47 minutes.
7. Beyond the first (TV) and second screens (Computer/Internet) , teens are increasingly watching video on their phones.
8. Teens browse less than half as much as the typical user
9. Sixty-seven percent of teen social networkers say they update their page at least once a week
10. More than half of all U.S. teen mobile subscribers (66%) say they actually prefer text-messaging to calling. Thirty-four percent say it’s the reason they got their phone.

Real Time search = the next frontier? Or just more of the same

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:08:00 GMT

I was at the Buzz140 conference yesterday, in Chennai, organized by the effervescent Kiruba Shankar, Photon (Vasanth and others) and the knowledge conference. It was a one day Twitter conference attended by about 150 folks, many of whom were learning about twitter for the first time.

It was actually a trending topic on twitter for a brief few minutes. (Photos on Flickr) and some by tag.

There was event coverage in the local media - both the Hindu and Deccan Chronicle covered it briefly today.

There was a very interesting topic on Real time search and its implications on Twitter and Google. Many new players have emerged in the space like Topsy, almost.at and Scoopler.

Photo thanks to Keval Prabhu.

What natural and economic disasters have in common

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:50:00 GMT

From McKinsey quarterly:

Scientists, sometimes in cooperation with economists, are taking the lead in a young field that applies complexity theory to economic research, rejecting the traditional view of the economy as a fully transparent, rational system striving toward equilibrium.

Many other scientists in the field of complexity theory argue that earthquakes, forest fires, power blackouts, and the like are extremely difficult or even impossible to foresee because they are the products of many interdependent “agents” and cascades of events in inherently unstable systems that generate large variations.

See the image below for the eerie correlation between banking crisis and earthquakes in So. Cal.

These examples indicate that power law patterns, with their small, frequent outcomes mixed with rare, hard-to-predict extreme ones, exist in many aspects of the economy. This suggests that the economy, like other complex systems characterized by power law behavior, is inherently unstable and prone to occasional huge failures.

How to be a great community manager - 5 steps

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 03:01:00 GMT

Sarah Blue has some recommendations on the 5 steps to be a better community manager:

It not an earth shattering revelation but a tried and tested set of known best practices.

The Paris Air Show 2009

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 01:44:00 GMT

I love planes. Of all kinds. There's no better sight to my eyes than a plane taking off (or landing for that matter). I was unable to attend the Paris Air show 2009, although I would have loved to go. Here are some amazing photos from the event.

Some more photos from Washington Post.
Here's the list of exhibitors.

Airbus seems to have a lot more orders booked than Boeing.

Electrifying cars: How three industries will evolve

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:33:00 GMT

It’s a safe bet that consumers will eventually swap their gas-powered cars and trucks for rechargeable models. Electrified transport, in some form, would seem to be in our future. But how long will investors have to wait for the bet to pay off? Years? Decades?

From Mckinsey Quarterly

What do successful people do differently?

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:01:00 GMT

1. Successful folks focus in on what they love and they wait for the world to come to them.- Jeff Bezos
2. You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable - J K Rowling
3. Humanity’s greatest advances are not in its discoveries – but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity - Bill Gates

1. Opportunity never knocks.
2. Follow your heart, but stick to what you know.
3. It’s not about the money – it’s about winning.

Read it all

Will Microsoft, Google, and Amazon talk you out of your data center? | Tech Sanity Check | TechRepublic.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 07:59:33 PDT

TechRepublic Editor in Chief Jason Hiner applies a sanity check to new technologies, new products, and new developments in the IT industry in order to help IT leaders sort through the latest hype and buzz.

The rise of urban poverty and how it will shape neighborhoods in India

mukund@thrisha.com (Mukund Mohan) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:33:00 GMT

I have an aunt & uncle who live in Chennai. After 20+ years in Singapore and the USA they are back. Always living modestly and within their means, they have 2 wonderful kids who are "well settled" - married, or engaged and doing well. They came by last weekend to spend some time with us and the kids.

Wanting to give back they moved to India with the intention of setting up a "home away from home" for young girls from broken homes - about 50 or so kids whom they will completely pay for in terms of food, clothing, shelter and education.

Aunt's the passionate one and this has been her life project and mission for the last few years. They already support an entire school in their village (where they grew up). Its completely free for all kids and they paid for the land, construction, and pay for the teachers annually. All kids study there for free. Uncle for most parts, pays the bills and is an amazingly supportive husband. Its his way of saying thanks to her for being by his side for the last 35 years.

They came by home to see if I could take them around. Bangalore's weather is temperate and nice (like Silicon Valley) and unlike Chennai (think Dallas in Summer, 365 days of the year). They were considering opening the shelter here in Bangalore. We spoke to a few principals at local schools who each had over 20 young girls who desperately needed a safe place to stay.

They figured they'd need about 150 Sq Ft of space per kid (this is on the high end, but its worth it) so about 7500 Sq ft home, in a 10,000 sq ft of land space. They had planned on hiring help for the home - a maid, a cook and a security guard.

Here's their project costs. All numbers are REAL.

1. Cost of acquiring land in the suburbs of Bangalore (about 20 miles away from the city, think Morgan Hill or Gilroy for the suburb to a San Jose city) - $240,000
2. Cost of registering land (Taxes, government fees) - $3400
3. Cost of bribing officials to ensure their land can be used as a shelter instead of home - $10,000
4. Cost of building the home (structure) $120,000 ($16/sq ft is on the low end but its doable)
5. Cost of running home with food, maids etc. $40,000 (per child, per year is $800)
6. Cost of paying for kids education annually ($500 per child) $25,000

Total Capex cost ~ $375K
Annual expense - $65,000

The same costs were compared with doing the same project at the village that currently houses their school. The total capital expense costs were $120K and their annual expenses were about $20K for 50 girls.

They had budgeted about $250K in an evergreen fund (so it has to pay for CapEX and ongoing costs), so Bangalore priced itself out.

Trouble is urban slum dwellers need this kind of support. The average poor person in the city lives on the same daily income as the rural one.

With rapid urbanization (close to 60% expected to be in urban cities by 2020) this is the inevitable landscape change that Indian cities will go through. They are too expensive for the poor and too expensive for the rich to support the poor.

The 5 Most Highly-Paid CIOs - BusinessWeek [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 05:35:35 PDT

Read the updated Technology at Work blog. Get info on improving technology efficiency in the workplace with green technology, cloud computing, virtual worlds & more.

Desk with treadmill - Boing Boing [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:36:18 PDT

The Way I Work: Matt Mullenweg, Leading Your Company Article - Inc. Article [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 06:35:42 PDT

Matt Mullenweg, founder of Word Press and Automattic, manages a successful Internet business where everyone is working from home

10 ways IT departments waste money | 10 Things | TechRepublic.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:46:23 PDT

Get the key facts on a wide range of technologies, techniques, strategies, and skills with the help of these concise, need-to-know lists.

IT After The Recession - Forbes.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 06:09:47 PDT

The downturn changed the fundamental business model for IT. What will CIOs do when the economy picks up?

The SBA Sees a Lending Shift - BusinessWeek [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:53:46 PDT

A Small Business Administration report on 2008 shows slower growth in small business loans and a rise in the use of small business credit cards.

HealthDay [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:53:14 PDT

Justices to Weigh Patenting of Business Methods - NYTimes.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 06:25:48 PDT

For Big Pharma, IPhone Is a Conduit to the Consumer Health - Advertising Age - Digital [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 09:29:07 PDT

Apple's skyrocketing iPhone is set to become an important, and potentially huge, marketing battleground for Big Pharma.

Tipping Point For Data Centers - Forbes.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:10:42 PDT

They continue to be massive energy hogs. This must stop.

About EMC: Leadership and Innovation: The Digital Universe [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Wed, 20 May 2009 07:31:02 PDT

San Jose leads as nation's top tech center - Local business- msnbc.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:29:02 PDT

San Jose is the nation’s most technologically adept metropolitan area, according to a new bizjournals study of 100 U.S. markets. Stockton ranks dead last.

Congratulations, Google staff: $210k in profit per head in 2008 | Royal Pingdom [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:12:05 PDT

Google had $209,624 in profit per employee in 2008, which beats all the other large tech companies we looked at, including big hitters like Microsoft, Apple, Intel and IBM.

Radio Tunes Out Google in Rare Miss for Web Titan - WSJ.com [del.icio.us]

mmohan — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:05:56 PDT

Google is pulling the plug on its attempt to automate radio-ad sales, exposing how far the company is from its goal of grabbing a big chunk of off-line ad sales.