Category Archives: Uncategorized

Farewell to the Space Shuttle

Posted on by
Reply

I remember reading as a child about NASA’s amazing plans for a reusable space shuttle. My uncle sent me a book with cut-outs that could be used to build a detailed cardboard model of the shuttle. I watched the first test launches on TV at my grandparents, awestruck. And then there were the disasters, Challenger and Columbia, moments captured in time, never to be forgotten. If the weather cooperates, this week is the final launch. End of an era. Amazing how they made space seem – almost – routine. I just wish I had had the opportunity to see a launch.

What should Microsoft do with Skype?

Posted on by
Reply

The recently announced purchase of Skype by Microsoft wasn’t something I would have anticipated at all – but it actually does makes sense.

Aside from blocking some of its competitors from making the same purchase, this has some interesting strategic implications. In recent years, Microsoft’s profit has come from two places – games (i.e. XBox), which is what the consumer notices, and the enterprise market (which it dominates).

Look for Microsoft to do three things (aside from increasing advertising) to fully utilize this purchase:

1) Expand Skype’s enterprise functionality – Skype has some teleconferencing capabilities, but they could definitely be improved (I can think of several competing products that are superior in this area). In addition, better integrating this functionality into the Outlook / Exchange / Sharepoint stack could be very beneficial for corporate customers. This might imply that they eventually kill off some of their in-house software, i.e. Live.

2) Improve Skype’s APIs – allowing games to use embedded voice and video chat via APIs could be a powerful enhancement for the XBox platform.

3) Bring back Skype for Windows Mobile (which also makes sense vis-a-vis Microsoft’s alliance with Nokia).

Time to buy Google?

Posted on by
Reply

Google’s share price has taken a beating lately, due to escalating costs (primarily R&D) and the CEO switch. About a year ago I wrote that Google, while a well run and highly profitable company, was too expensive. At current (8 April 2011) P/E under 20, and with both increasing revenue and forward thinking R&D, I think its now time to to reverse course, and call GOOG as a buy and hold.

Please note: the author does not currently hold a position in GOOG, and is not making a recommendation regarding other people’s investment activities!

When will virtual currencies be useful?

Posted on by
Reply

I currently have small amounts of money floating around in a variety of virtual currencies. In some cases, I can convert those currencies to other virtual currencies or to real world money (i.e. there’s a slow process to move paypal money into my bank account).

It occurs to me though that it would be very useful if I could pay real world bills (think groceries or mortgage) directly using virtual currency.

Before that can happen, there would need to be a lot more transparency (i.e. no grocery will accept magicbuxx if they don’t know how much they are worth, or whether they can in turn get value out of them), and a whole lot of big institutions like banks and payment portals would need to sign on too. There would also need to be physical mechanisms that can transfer the payments (i.e. the new mobile payment technology that is slowly being adopted by cellphone manufacturers would be helpful).

I wonder how we can make that happen. It would be very nice to be able to go to a restaurant with a pile of Facebook credits, or Bitcoins.

HP Needs a BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal)

Posted on by
6

Flickr Creative Commons - Taken by kevindooley

A number of years ago, I read a book called “Built to Last”, by Jim Collins and Jerry Porras. The book, a classic of the genre, discusses a number of companies that the author feel to be “visionary” in nature. One of those companies is HP. The founders of the company built not just a company, but also a coherent internal culture, commonly called the “HP Way”. This has lead to the company being greatly admired in business circles.

The last few years have been rough on HP’s external image, in large part – I believe – unfairly. The past week has seen the second sudden departure of its CEO in only a few years. Both were due to scandal. While profitability has not been hurt (in fact HP is doing better than ever, with much credit to its recently departed CEO!), the stock has lately been pummeled in the markets.

Some of the commentary that I’ve read describe the most recent tenure as being one of building a solid financial foundation for the company. Which leads me to my point. What HP needs in its new leader is a vision for where the company should be moving technologically. Not just a specific set of goals, but something that is going to put fire in their bellies (and enthral their customers). In short, they need a BHAG – a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.

One possibility that comes to mind: HP is one of the largest manufacturers of electronics (both consumer and business) in the world. If they made a decision that in 3 to 5 years time, every single device that they manufactured would contain a wireless mesh device, they could theoretically blanket the entire world with free, decentralized, high speed internet connections. And by implication, free telephony and broadcast media. Yes, there are still big technical issues to address, and wireless mesh networks are still very much the realm of techy enthusiasts (and the US military, and also to some extent Google). But that’s the point of a BHAG. Yes, the telecom industry would scream (including likely some of HP’s board members – hey, I’m just sayin’) as their entire business model evaporated. Oh, and Apple might be in trouble as well – they make money on the telecom contracts for iPhones, not on the hardware. But imagine the sales pitch to consumers – buy our printers, our laptops, our telephones, and never pay for internet, telephone or cable TV ever again. Nice, eh?

Here’s another possibility: HP is already widely known for its environmentally friendly policies, and especially for its experience handling and recycling plastics. Imagine what effect a Fortune 500 company (with $100 billion plus per year in revenue) could have, if it would back a project like WHIM Architecture’s Recycled Island project? WHIM are trying to gather all of the waste plastic floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and turn it into habitable land. I don’t know with any certainty if their economic projections are feasible, but there’s a potential for large profits from this type of venture.

There’s no doubt that there’s any number of highly talented people that can step into the chief executive role at HP. Let’s hope that whomever they chose will bring this kind of vision to the table, and that this remarkable company can quickly move beyond this temporary setback.