Can’t make it into the office for that meeting?  Not a problem, thanks to videoconferencing systems.  A recent article from The Chronicle of Higher Education discusses how some college campuses are utilizing this technology more nowadays for their faculty meetings.  In hopes to save on costs, these virtual meetings offer staff members the option to participate in them without having to make a trip to campus.

New York University is one school currently using this videoconferencing technology to their advantage.  With its study-abroad posts scattered throughout the world, including one in construction in Abu Dhabi, NYU finds the videoconferencing capabilities quite beneficial and essential for faculty to remain connected.  Regular conference calls with officials from NYU’s 10 study-abroad offices accompany the video streams as well.  With more universities looking to expand their operations abroad, these virtual meetings will become more of a necessity in order for colleagues to create and facilitate an overseas dialogue for questions, ideas, and suggestions.  This form of communication will be vital for programs to develop, advance, and thrive.

With a growing interest in this technology, researchers are finding ways to improve the linkups to capture the various nuances of personal interactions that can get lost when face-to-face meetings do not happen.  Think holograms and stand-in robots!  These innovative features are expected to enhance one’s “telepresence” in the virtual meeting world.  For example, one stand-in robot is being developed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  The robot will reflect the movements of the individual controlling it, while cameras inside of the robot transmit its view back to the operator.  The inspiration for this creation stems from Disney World’s “animatronics” concept that can be found throughout its various attractions.  However, the article also implies that holograms may be the more cost efficient option, for now at least.  Try and picture video being projected onto a spinning mirror, thus creating a more 3-D effect.  No special eyewear would be required.

Along with these specific technical aspects, one’s presence or “telepresence” needs to be fostered and accepted by others.  Openness towards technological advancements helps in this arena.  General videoconferencing (minus the robots and holograms) appears to be widely accepted by most, especially with the use of such popular software programs like Skype.  The utilization of video streaming is allowing colleagues to interact that are (a) on opposite sides of the world or (b) trying to reduce the number of commuter trips made to campus.  Whatever the reason may be, this medium is establishing another accessible mode of virtual connection.

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Photo by Mathieu Plourde, used under a Creative Commons license.

In WWII when British boffin Barnes Wallis suggested to the top brass of the British military that the best option for destroying some major dams in Germany was to drop a number of bombs that would bounce on the reservoirs — each bomb essentially skipping along the surface of the water until it hit the wall of the dam — he was looked at with incredulity.

You know what? The idea worked. The bombs bounced and the dams were destroyed. (See the movie The Dam Busters if you want to see a fuller version of this ripping yarn).

Today there are similar bright minds at work suggesting equally incredible ideas about alternative energy solutions in the war to tackle global warming and increase energy supply. According to an August  MSNBC  feature, some of the wild and crazy ideas include the following:

A solar panel array in earth orbit that can beam down energy from its 24-7 solar-powered system. Crazy, right? Well, Pacific Gas and Electric has signed up to buy 200 MW of electricity from Solaren Corp., which plans to sell power from orbiting solar panels beginning in mid-2016.

A submerged grid of flexible cylindrical rods to translate the river currents or slow moving ocean currents into electric power by converting the natural mechanical energy into electricity. No way? The University of Michigan is working on it.

Artificial trees. Structures made of proprietary absorbent materials that mimic real trees in their ability to remove carbon dioxide from the air. The trapped carbon dioxide is then sold to soda makers for carbonation. Come on. Well, Global Research Technologies of Tucson envisions it working.

The book SuperFreakonomics suggests an even wilder idea: Several miles of garden hose attached to a helium balloon pumping sulfur dioxide into the upper atmosphere in order to lower earth’s temperature and reduce global warming. Now that is a nutty idea and has brought howls of derision from climate scientists and others. But some take it seriously, including Intellectual Ventures (a firm set up by former Microsoft Chief Technology Officer Nathan Myhrvold) which came up with the idea, and University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and writer Stephen Dubner, who put it in their book SuperFreakonomics. (The model is based on reproducing the effects of Mt. Pinatubo’s massive volcanic eruption in 1991, which pushed so much sulfuric ash into the stratosphere that it cooled the earth temperatures by about one degree Fahrenheit for two years, or so.)

Crazy talk, right? But one generation’s crazy can be the next generation’s operating system. This writer has experienced first-hand a media/digital revolution that has transformed how we communicate and he remembers a world before PCs, VCRs, DVDs, the Internet, the World Wide Web, the BlackBerry, and iPods. Many of the electronic tools for communication we take for granted are recent inventions, most of which started out as wild ideas.

Barnes Wallis knew that Necessity is a mother, but so is consumer demand, and both will determine whether orbiting solar panels, a submerged self-generating power grid, artificial trees, or a garden hose in the sky, will make the transition from crazy idea to mundane reality, and become a ripping yarn.

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Photo by Jeremy Levine, used under a Creative Commons license.

The recession, at least in the US, apparently is at an end, after nearly two years. One promising sign is the uptick in business for semiconductor production equipment, as reported by Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI), an industry trade group that tracks the orders and shipments reported to the organization by North American equipment suppliers.

Equipment industry conditions bottomed out in the first quarter of this year, according to SEMI. The organization’s monthly book-to-bill report follows how orders (bookings) are corresponding to shipments (billings). A ratio of 1.0 indicates orders and shipments are in balance and the North American equipment industry is seeing generally healthy conditions. A ratio above 1.0 usually indicates the industry is in a growth mode, and that’s what’s been seen in recent months.

The preliminary book-to-bill figure for September was 1.17, meaning $117 worth of orders were received for every $100 worth of equipment shipped and billed to customers. SEMI’s book-to-bill ratio hit its nadir in January of this year, when it was 0.47. The ratio slowly crept up through June and broke into positive territory in July.

The other side of the monthly figures is less cheery, however. The North American equipment industry for years booked and shipped more than $1 billion of equipment each month, on both sides of the ledger. Shipments fell to a low of about $386 million in April of this year, while orders touched a low of nearly $246 million in March. For September, orders were around $733 million, while shipments were almost $625 million (figures are subject to revision), according to SEMI.

The semi equipment industry still has a way to go to return to previous prosperity; it seems its darkest days are now in the past.

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Photo by A. M. Kuchling, used under a Creative Commons license.

I really love it when natural substances become the source of modern medicinal research. It gives some reassurance that drug development hasn’t fallen entirely into the realm of synthetic chemicals.

A recent study conducted by the Cork Cancer Research Centre in the UK has shown that curcumin, an active ingredient in the yellow tumeric spice found in curry powder and some teas, can kill esophageal cancer cells and may lead to a new treatment for cancer of the throat.

This is not the first time curcumin has been investigated for its medicinal properties — the extract has been researched by entities including the American Institute for Cancer Research and M.D. Anderson as a possible treatment for a variety of cancers and other ailments such as dementia and arthritis.

Now, granted, these studies use concentrated doses of such substances and don’t necessarily indicate that eating curry-spiced foods will help treat or prevent cancer. But hey, if you like spicy foods, it can’t hurt to add some to your diet.

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Photo by Carol Mitchell, used under a Creative Commons license.

It is called crowdsourcing, and it ushers in a bold new creative turn for agencies. The term refers to a collaborative effort of crowds (typically online) to generate ideas. Basically, the agencies will rely on the interplay and bouncing around of ideas by a group of people, while they monitor and guide the community through the creative process. The idea is to get more people involved in the development of new ideas. Think creative focus groups.

The new term emerges in the midst of what some of the major advertising conglomerates are deeming a period of recovery for the industry. As Advertising Age reports that commercial time on television networks is increasing (might football season have something to do with that?), Maurice Lévy, the CEO of mega agency Publicis Groupe predicted this week that “the advertising market is starting its recovery”, and his company would enjoy organic revenue growth during this time next year.

While crowdsourcing is still new, some agencies are already on board. Bartle Bogle Hegarty in London is assembling a group of graphic artists, photographers, and filmmakers to help produce a campaign for a new product. Members of the group will divvy up $20,000 between them, and the winner gets an internship in the agency.

Hmmm. Sounds more like “cheap-labor-sourcing” to me.

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Photo by James Cridland, used under a Creative Commons license.

For years, whenever I’ve wanted to learn more about a band or artist, I’ve had to go through a laborious, multi-step process to find my answers. The best example is when I hear a new song on the radio but don’t know who the band is. However, I do remember a line from a verse, or a chorus, perhaps.

When I get home I plug the lyrics into a Google search and see what I get. Once I narrow down the artist, then I typically have to embark on a separate search to identify a second or third website just to listen to the song and learn more about the composer(s). Getting to my destination is a hard-fought victory, and I know I’m not the only one who compulsively does this — you all know who you are.

Well, imagine combining all of those steps into one. One search field, one website, no scouring the Internet for minutes (or hours, in some cases). Wouldn’t that be nice? Yesterday Google announced such a search feature, and the possibilities are tantalizing. 

To accomplish this task, Google has partnered with MySpace, Lala, imeem, Pandora, and Rhapsody to more efficiently produce relevant results for music queries. Like any Web engine search, there is a “time to result” involved when searching certain information. Google and its partners call it “time to music,” and they hope to drastically reduce it.

It works like this: You enter a music-related search on Google. Up pops a list of results that includes links to preview and purchase music, thanks to MySpace and Lala. Also included are links to similar artists you might consider checking out as well, thanks to imeem, Pandora, and Rhapsody.

With two of the top-10 Web searches having something to do with music, it makes sense that Google would invest in such an enhanced offering. The record labels seem to like the idea as well (at least we haven’t seen litigation… yet).

As of press time, the function wasn’t formally available to try out. Still, I have high hopes that it revolutionizes how fans find new music. And hopefully it brings a little more recognition to deserving artists.

Funny what a little reflection time can do to an industry. Two major digital music retailers have announced that the album, in fact, is alive and most well.

First, Apple introduced iTunes LP, a souped-up version of its popular digital music store that features full-length albums with “deluxe” additional features such as lyrics, credits, and artwork — all the great things you get when you purchase a physical CD or record. This long-overdue development is certainly a strategic move on Apple’s part, as it maneuvers to once again differentiate itself from Amazon and eMusic.

Not to be outdone, eMusic’s president and CEO Danny Stein raised his voice to extol the virtues of the album. The format has accounted for nearly three-quarters of eMusic’s sales over the past year. And Amazon is pushing the format through its “50 Albums for $5″ promotion.

So, why the sudden renewed optimism over the album? As the record industry prepares to exit a financially dismal decade, digital content providers are developing new ways to give customers the most bang for their buck. In many cases, that has come in the form of special pricing (see Amazon above) and bundling content, as iTunes LP has done.

So far, their efforts have proven fruitful. Digital album sales are up 17 percent this year compared to 2008, while individual track sales have risen only 12 percent.

The glory days of the album may be just a memory. But for the time being, music lovers — and especially album lovers — have good reason to celebrate.

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Photo by Alexandra Lee, used under a Creative Commons license.

Microsoft is such a constant source of news and a rich subject of speculation. The world’s largest software company garnered headlines earlier this month with the launch of Windows 7 and the Sidekick service outage at its Danger subsidiary. (Yes, Microsoft has a subsidiary called Danger — insert your geeky joke here.)

One area where Microsoft appears vulnerable is the market for mobile devices, where they are facing a challenge from a familiar competitor: Google. The Windows Mobile operating system, on the market for more than a decade, enjoys a global smartphone market share of less than 10%, and it’s falling farther behind the market leaders — the Symbian OS of Nokia, Research In Motion’s OS for the BlackBerry, and Apple’s iPhone OS. Coming up with under 2% of the market at the moment but sure to gain market share in the next year is the open-source Android mobile device OS created by Google. It’s being embraced by a wide variety of wireless phone manufacturers and wireless communications carriers, such as Dell, Motorola, Sprint Nextel, and Verizon Communications.

Verizon Wireless is jumping on the Android bandwagon in a big way, putting millions of dollars into marketing the Droid phone, which is made by Motorola. The giant carrier’s marketing campaign ignores Nokia, RIM, and Microsoft to go after the iPhone — highlighting features the Apple smartphone doesn’t have and which “Droid does.” Verizon apparently got tired of waiting on Apple to authorize someone other than Apple and AT&T to sell the iPhone in the States, so it’s significantly getting into Android phones.

High Tech Computer (HTC), the Taiwanese manufacturer, is a stalwart user of Windows CE and Windows Mobile for some of its wireless phones. Yet it’s also become one of the world’s biggest adopters of Android, making the first Android-based phone to be marketed in the US (the G1, sold by T-Mobile USA). This year it’s widened its Android touchscreen models to include the myTouch 3G for T-Mobile, the Hero for Sprint, the Imagio for Verizon, and the PURE for AT&T (which exclusively carries the iPhone in the US).

In 2009, how would E.T. phone home? It’s looking like almost anything other than a Microsoft OS-based product.

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Photo by Jurgen Knops, used under a Creative Commons license.

Well, it’s official. We’ve hit triple digits for the number of banks that have gone down the tubes in 2009.

The inglorious honor of being the 100th US bank to fail goes to Partners Bank in Naples, Florida. Regulators swooped in to shut down the bank last Friday. That same day six other banks went belly up including American United Bank in Lawrenceville, Georgia and Flagship National Bank in Bradenton, Florida. By the time you read this Partners Bank will be reopened as Stonegate Bank and American United Bank will be just a memory, opening its doors under the new name, Ameris Bank. Flagship National will be open under the First Federal Bank of Florida flag.

With 100 failed banks and counting we already have more than quadruple the amount of bank failures this year than there were in 2008.  However, we are nowhere close to the damage done in the late ’80s/early ’90s. More than 1,900 financial institutions failed from 1987-1991.

Most of 2009’s closures have been smaller, regional banks. While those “too big to fail” banks were saved by federal assistance early on in this economic mess and are now reporting massive profits, their kid brother banks seem to be ”too small to save.” They have been left to flounder until the FDIC decides its time to pull the plug. So far all of the failures have cost the FDIC’s deposit insurance fund some $25 billion this year.

But before you start stuffing cash under your mattress, the head of the FDIC, Sheila Bair, posted the following video message Friday to reassure everybody that everything is going to be all right and to explain how FDIC’s insured deposits system works. Good thing that we’ve got it, because more closures are expected and the system is once again being tested.

A Message from FDIC Chairman Sheila C. Bair

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Photo by David Reber used under a Creative Commons license.

The deal, announced in early October, will create a joint holding company two-thirds owned by Avianca and one-third owned by TACA. The combined entity will have about $3 billion in annual revenues, 129 planes in its fleet, 3 million frequent fliers, and serve more than 100 destinations. Each carrier will keep its name under the deal, which still requires regulatory approval.

Seventy-five of those destinations will be in Latin America, giving Avianca-TACA (an official name has not been announced for the combined company) strong footing while giving other carriers in that area a run for their money. The Chilean Lan Airlines and Aeromexico are already considering partnerships or alliance with other airlines to face the competition.

Another goal of the new company is to pump up the number of flights from Latin America to North America and Europe, which would challenge US and European airlines for market share.

As we’re seeing in many industries, the hot spots are in developing or underserved markets, such as Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Africa, and that’s certainly true in the airline industry. Look for more action in these regions as carriers based around the world are anxious to tap growth markets.

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Photo by Andrés Osorio, used under a Creative Commons license.