Wait no more, Google unveils Google Wave, an open source, personal communication and collaboration tool – all within a browser, using HTML 5 (dubbed as the Microsoft killer). Simply defined, Google Wave combines the best of worlds from plain vanilla email, hosted conversations,  bulletin boards, combined with the power of instant messaging and social network applications like Orkut. Connect the concept with the possibilities at workplace – shared meeting minutes, with REAL TIME view as content is created (yup, real time – meaning text shows up in your browser as your colleague types), real time deliverables and content creation etc.

Lisa Hoover from “Computer World” defines Google Wave as:

“Wave is an elaborate mashup of collaboration, documentation, and real-time messaging that Google hopes will make people finally sever ties with AOL, Microsoft, and other online services. Its function is similar to what would happen if you linked your team’s computer desktops together, then put a giant virtual whiteboard in front of everyone.
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I think it’s a safe bet Wave will fly in enterprise. If nothing else, the magic words “improved workflow” will entice companies to at least try it. There’s no question that freelancers, telecommuters, and anyone who relies on remote collaboration will jump on Wave the day it’s available, and stick with it if it helps save time and money.”

What’s more – Google Wave comes with a cool set of APIs, opening up a world of possibilities and opportunities to develop extensions. Drooling.

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Check out Ben’s latest blog post on Mashable.com for a deep dive

In this video, takes to task the myths of Western culture and civilization, explaining the “Golden Nugget” theory and its five major errors. Get ready for his deconstruction of a monolith.

Also check out his article in “The Washington Post” titles, “If You Think Your Taxes Are Unjust, Just Think Again”. Chris Navin has a cool review from one of his NY Times articles… check it out at “Kwame Anthony Appiah In The NY Times: The New New Philosophy”

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It all started with lending money to Subprime borrowers or at least as the world knows how it began.  Next in line was Credit crisis, as a result of freeze on lending. Banks, financial institutions and businesses across the world have lost tons of money causing the economic tectonic plates to re-adjust, drifting the financial world as we know as far back as 90’s, wiping out close to $5 trillion market value.
The technology boom of the late 90’s followed by the financial prosperity over the last decade had created numerous jobs raising the per capita and thereby standard of living of every individual. Are jobs an exaggerated response to what we thought the marketplace was? Are jobs another bubble waiting to burst? The answer only time can tell.

Investor Dilemma:

Market collapse has raised awareness on the financial model and prevailing regulations. Diverse viewpoints of each analyst is often confusing;  I’ve heard one say that in a un-regulatory environment, everything could go wrong and others say that in a tightly regulated markets, nothing functions as expected. Now, how can you stay in between the two conditions and expect nothing to go wrong. Isn’t that confusing (inevitable)? Excessive greed coupled with that mystification marked the genesis of various investment vehicles such as Mortgage backed securities, Collateralized debt obligation (CDO), Credit default swaps (CDS) etc. These asset-backed securities, typically big buyers of subprime mortgage backed securities, are sliced, diced and sold to institutional investors. As subprime delinquencies soared in the year 2007, major rating agencies such as Moody’s and Fitch have downgraded some of their AAA rated CDOs to Junk; as a result their market value slumped. Insurance companies like AIG, Security Capital that guaranteed interest and principal payments in the event of default have lost their market capitalization as they began writing off the billions in their quarterly filings. Risk transferred from one institution to another without much accountability has brought down the entire market.

The crash seems to have heard every nook and corner of the world including a small and peaceful seaport town of Narvik in Norway, where the municipalities and civilians have lost millions in such complex derivate instruments.

Who has the courage to invest or spend in a market that has lost more than a decade of positive performance? During the time of enormous economic distress, Investors need confidence that most institutions that they invest in are sustainable and viable long term. Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase had delivered a terrific speech at US chamber, which was meant to restore confidence in the market. When asked about Executive compensation, he aptly said that Government, Treasury or Federal reserve  should not intervene or guide them to run their businesses and that institutions cannot retain talented resources if the government were to lay out stringent policies on executive compensation. I am in full accord with Jamie Dimon and other CEOs that restricting compensations would in fact prove to be deterrent for businesses on the long run because compensation and bonuses if paid for better performance over an extended period of time, are basic incentives to actuate individuals to strike better deals. Do we not have better things to do at this point than to talk about compensation?

Fundamentals fell off the cliff?

When I first started investing, I spent a great deal of time and effort in understanding what market indicators are- behavior of Stocks vs. Oil, Dollar vs. Oil, Commodities vs. Stocks, quarterly earnings, ramifications of dividend cut etc. Well, I now know what they are however they are no longer fundamentals in the current circumstances.

Considering the numbers are bloated over the years I ask myself, is this the true market value? If so, will the market ever see the heydays of the years 2007-2008?

In Losang’s words, “Technology can flatten the world for local communities in disparate areas. These same people have other aspirations to be fully engaged in a globalized world but on their own terms as much as on the world’s terms. So if you would like to witness a small but ancient tribe of people move successfully past marginalization and into an empowered bright future, then I invite you to participate in a remarkable story that we hope has a sustainable future.”

Raised in Canada, Losang was recognized as an Emerging Explorer by the National Geographic for her innovative work in bridging cultural divides.

Connect with Losang on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Losang-Rabgey/549208134

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1. “Everyone’s Child” – Founded in 2000, “Everyone’s Child” is a community-based organization that provides education, health and other services to children infected by AIDS. Over 200 children receive these services on a daily basis in a community center that the organization built in 2003.

2. “African Regional Youth Initiative (ARYI)”: While a first-year graduate student in 2003, Neema founded this organization which works directly with over 400 community and youth organizations to jointly develop, implement, and evaluate community, national and regional strategies focusing on development issues in Africa.

3. “Forum for Global Action”: In an effort to foster innovative thinking on international development, she co-founded the Forum for Global Action in 2006. One of the focus areas of the forum is on women’s leadership that is being implemented in Africa, Asia, and South America.

4. “African Women of Distinction project”: A peace and justice project created in 2006, the project highlights the leadership role of women in Africa. In addition, it also works with over 180 young men and women in Africa to build and nurture their leadership skills through leadership trainings, mentorship and information and communication technology.

In this video, Neema shares the progress of her partnership with Cameron Sinclair’s “Architecture for Humanity” program. “Architecture for Humanity”, an organization that brings design, construction and development services to communities in need through a global network of building professionals. Neema has paired with  Cameron Sinclair to initiate the building process. Together, they’re creating a community-based health center in the rural Singida region of Tanzania.

Connect with Neema on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/people/Neema-Mgana/683867208

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Barnett argues that the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 revealed the gap between an outdated Cold War-era military and a radically different one needed to deal with emerging threats. He analyzes recent military operations including Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom amongst other, and points out that the nature of war has changed, and so has the nature of the enemy. In this video, Thomas Barnett proposes a “Department Of Everything Else” – arguing that this will be a department between War (Defense) and Peace (State), one that is focused on getting countries from the Gap (as I describe those less connected regions) to the Core. State is built primarily to deal with functioning states, or the Core, while Defense is reorienting after 9/11 to wage wars in the Gap. 

Thomas Barnett has been described by U.S. News & World Report’s Michael Barone as “one of the most important strategic thinkers of our time.” He is a New York Times-bestselling author and a nationally-known public speaker who’s been profiled on the front-page of the Wall Street Journal many times. Amongst other notable achievements, Tom Barnette has served as a strategic planner who has worked in national security affairs since the end of the Cold War. He worked as a Senior Strategic Researcher and Professor in the Warfare Analysis & Research Department, Center for Naval Warfare Studies, U.S. Naval War College, Newport RI, where he taught and served–in a senior advisory role–with military and civilian leaders in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, Central Command, Special Operations Command, and Joint Forces Command.  He has also been engaged in some strategic concepts that link change in the international security environment to the imperative of transforming U.S. military capabilities to meet future threats.

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Far-reaching changes in attitudes and family structures have been redefining the workforce for more than two decades – yet the workplace has remained much the same. During this time, many companies have learned that personalizing the customer experience is good for business. In Mass Career Customization, the authors argue convincingly to extend this popular and profitable concept to the workplace. As the working population shrinks, maintaining industry advantage will depend largely on keeping employees engaged and connected. Mass Career Customization provides a framework for organisational adaptability that will do just that.

Cathy Benko is the chief talent officer responsible for driving the Deloitte U.S. Firms strategy to attract, develop and advance a highly skilled and increasingly diverse workforce. She is also leading a pioneering approach to employee engagement and career/life integration called Mass Career Customization, a signature initiative of the Deloitte U.S. Firms Talent agenda.

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RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. Adrian defines it as a practical self-copying 3D printer that builds the parts up in layers of plastics – in essence, a self-replicating machine. Not counting nuts and bolts RepRap can make 60% of its parts; the other parts are designed to be cheaply available everywhere.

This is an interesting coincidence: we can make 60% of our proteins; the other parts are evolved to be cheaply available everywhere. In this respect, RepRap machines could/would follow Darwin’s theory of evolution. And with the project now available in Open Source domain, natural selection seems all the more logical growth route.

Imagine the potential impact of this “magical wand”! Will this “demonetize money”? Check out the video below.

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Also check out the other blog post pointing to some potentially troublesome future for the OLPC program.

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Anyways, back to the OLPC topic – The original goal of the project was to reduce the cost to market to about $100 per unit. However, insufficient volume and configuration changes have ensured that dream remains elusive, and cost to market to about $188 per unit. What’s worse – a series of reorganizations in the recent few years have alienated several key contributors. OLPC Director of Security, Ivan Krstic, left the program earlier this year, complaining that, “the internal restructuring reflected a fundamental change of vision that he couldn’t accept”. Ivan continues to blast the program on his personal blog. Ranting of a not-so-happy-ex-employee? Not so fast. Ivan points to several key issues, including infrastructure. He wrote:

“We have no real support infrastructure for these rollouts, our development process is not allocating any time for dealing with critical deployment issues that (will inevitably) come up, and we have no process for managing the crises that will ensue”.

Another key excerpt from his personal blog:

“Put differently, OLPC can’t claim to be preoccupied with learning and not with training children to be office computer drones, while at the same time being coerced by hollow office drone rhetoric to deploy the computers with office drone software. Nicholas used to say the thought of the XOs being used to teach 6-year olds Word and Excel made him cringe. Apparently, no longer so. Which is it? The vacillation needs to stop. As they say in the motherland: shit or get off the pot.”

A “big enough” population out there thinks that Nicholas is insane, even adding that he is a “terrible manager and leader”. A case in point – on May 20, 2008, at the recent OLPC Country Workshop, Nicholas said that the OLPC mission statement “has not changed one ounce”.  And the very next minute, he introduced a fourth version of the mission statement, entirely different from the previous three reported on OLPC News not long ago. Hmmm… The original Five Core Principles were:
1. Child Ownership
2. Low Ages
3. Saturation
4. Connection
5. Free and Open Source
Then how does XO (the Microsoft Windows version) fit in this vision?

Bottom line – The OLPC project is now struggling to sustain momentum, and might end up on life support if its leadership can’t turn things around.

But hold on… this blog post isn’t all about bashing the OLPC program… it’s to celebrate the success, even if limited, of the program, including 600,000 units sold in the first six months, for more than $200 million. And how can you forget that this program helped create a new market segment, ultra-low-cost laptops, where there is more Linux than Windows on offer. So check out the video below – OLPC program distributes 650 laptops in a remote school on Cambodia… and the reaction from a grateful community. Do you find it interesting that in Cambodia, the Defense Minister if the “official cheerleader” for the program? Hmmm… wonder what happened to the Ministry of Education.

Also check out my previous post about Nicholas reporting on the OLPC program.

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Look out for instances in this video where Chung quickly walks through toy successes and failures in the past. I think it requires a great sense of humor and self confidence to be able to discuss your past failures. On a related note, check out this cool blog post- “You Must Fail – Six lessons from Michael Jordon”

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As per Daniel, latest brain research suggests that our brain is divided into 2 major hemispheres – the LEFT brain and the RIGHT brain, both of which have clearly delineated tasks. LEFT brain focuses on the tasks that are linear, logical, analytical and/or sequential, while the RIGHT hemisphere processes tasks that are “contextual” and synthesis vs. analysis.

Dan argues that we see clear evidence of this concept in today’s global economy – till early in the century, the LEFT brain mattered the most, and got us here. However the scales are tilting – and (in particular US economy), will leverage the RIGHT hemisphere of the brain much more. He points to 3 main factors – Abundance, Asia and Automation – that points to the generalization, that any and all “routine” tasks… are “commodities” and can be easily outsourced… replacing the white/blue collar workforce. Economies of the advanced nations are/should increasingly becoming economies about “significance”, “aesthetics” and other RIGHT brain things.

I agree with his summary that we have moved from Agriculture Age (the age of farmers) > Industrial Age (the age of the factory workers) > Information Age (the age of Knowledge Workers)… and now are increasingly moving towards the “Conceptual Age” (the age of creators and empathizers). Great idea… couldn’t agree more. The problem is… our education system is way out of sync with this vision. We still rely on SAT, LSAT, GMAT and other such ridiculous scores that measure the volume of your LEFT brain. Maybe this is the right time to confess that back in school… I did my part to ensure a bigger bell curve Kinda reminds me of Malcom Gladwell’s presentation from NewYorker conference about how our talent development and acquisition strategies are still 18th century old and haven’t evolved a bit… while on the other hand… the kind of work we do has undergone dramatic changes. Obama’s pick for secretary of Education, Chicago schools Supt. Arne Duncan, is a reformer respected by traditionalists and innovators alike. Let’s hope his appointment is a positive step in this direction.

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A lesser known fact – Jay Walker is also the curator of the Library of Human Imagination. Check out some of the surprises from his library in this engaging TED presentation.

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His library is 3,600 square feet on three mazelike levels, and showcases his vast/crazy collection including 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle, 1535 Coverdale Bible, 1660 celestial atlas by Andrea Cellarius, 1665 Micrographia by Robert Hooke or his Kelmscott Chaucer, real meteorites, an original Sputnik from the 7 surviving Sputniks, an American flag which was carried to the moon and bag on Apollo 11, the original chandelier from the James Bond flick Die Another Day… and many more such brain numbing “stuff” like an Enigma code machine and complete dinosaur skeleton.

Check out some of the pics of his library here: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-10/ff_walker?currentPage=all

The question is – what use is a library if its doors are closed to the “knowledge seeker” – the public? Schoolchildren, executives, politicians and scholars can visit the library by invitation only.

In either case, take a moment to remember that in many homes, there will be a missing seat at many tables this Thursday… sons, daughters, husbands, fathers, uncles, aunts, wives, mothers… who are a part of our troops and are serving their country in various parts of the world… say a prayer for them.

May God bless our American troops … and may God bless their families. Be safe, and have fun.

Here’s a cool ad for “Community of Veterans” I saw this morning. Loved the messaging… thought will share.

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In this video, he talks about how to have real relationships in your professional life; how to warm a cold call; finding time to build relationships; opening yourself to others’ generosity, and many other cool ideas, that will help you eliminate artificial boundaries between personal and professional relationships.

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About Daniel Goleman:
Daniel Goleman is an internationally known psychologist who lectures frequently to professional groups, business audiences, and on college campuses. Working as a science journalist, Goleman reported on the brain and behavioral sciences for The New York Times for many years. His 1995 book, Emotional Intelligence (Bantam Books) was on The New York Times bestseller list for a year-and-a-half; with more than 5,000,000 copies in print worldwide in 30 languages, and has been a best seller in many countries.

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