Alexander the Great's Management

Alexander the Great changed history. What can we learn from him? Partha Bose, author of "Alexander the Great's Art of Strategy", observes:

"It fundamentally boils down to three things: it is where you want to compete, when and how you want to enter or exit that market and how do you want to go about competing when you are in that market."

"Those are fundamentally the three key strategic issues and again when you take a look at Alexander the Great's history you find that he was pretty much the first ever general to systematically think through those three key issues.

"Strategy is only as good as the organization's ability to execute it. Here again, there are lessons from ancient times."

Link
Source: CNN

See also:
Alexander and Darius - Belmont Club

Discuss:
AlwaysOn

The Wisdom of Warren Buffett

What should we learn from Warren Buffett?

1. Be Grateful
2. Be Ethical & Fair
3. Be Trustworthy
4. Invest in Your Cirle of Competence
5. Do What You Love

Link
Source: Stuff I Think
[via Seth Godin]

See also:
Warren Buffett - Google News
Warren Buffett - Topix.net

Amazon's A9: We Index the Real World!

"In short, Manber and co. (urged on by Jeff Bezos, who Manber says was 'very involved') strapped GPS-enabled digital video camera-cum-terabyte server rigs to the top of a bunch of SUVs, then drove them around the commercial areas of major US metropolitan areas, recording what then became composite still pictures of entire cities, one address at a time. A9 took more than 20 million images of 14 million+ businesses across ten cities (more are coming soon), then created a local search application they call Block View."

Link
Source: John Battelle's Searchblog

Jeff Bezos, Amazon, IMDB, Alexa, A9, Blue Origin...Can we connect the dots? Does Jeff Bezos want to index the real world? What's next?

Video:
Yellow Pages on A9.com

Audio:
Jeff Bezos - IT Conversations

Discuss:
A9 Search Engine Launches Yellow Pages - Slashdot

See also:
Amazon.com - Google News
Amazoncom News - Topix.net
A9 - Technorati
Amazon Web Services Blog
Seeking Better Web Searches - Scientific American
Web 2.0
Augmented reality - Wikipedia
VRlog

The Google Operating System: Plan 9

John C. Dvorak observes:
"If you follow the Google strategy their incursions are leading directly down a path often discussed during the late 1990's -- a browser-centric Internet OS."

"Think of the potential advertising revenue you can generate when you own the entire desktop environment."

"This strategy may account for some unusual hires by Google including Rob Pike from Bell labs, one of the development team members for an unusual distributed OS called Plan 9, named for the wacky Ed Wood cult film, 'Plan 9 from Outer Space.' While Pike may have been brought in to help the company deal with its internal software used to control tens of thousands of clusters, there is speculation that Google wants to push out onto the desktop. The company is already toying with distributed grid computing with its obscure Google Computer project: http://toolbar.google.com/dc/offerdc.html."

Link
Source: CBS MarketWatch

Google Software Downloads
Google Toolbar, Google Desktop Search, Picasa Photo Organizer, Google Deskbar, Gmail Notifier, Keyhole
Link

See also:
The Google Browser - Pandia Search World
Google - the next Microsoft?
Google's Next Steps or Google in 2010
Web 2.0

Google Video or Google TV?

"Google introduced late Monday a prototype of a service to search TV programming, an anticipated move to broaden its search franchise for broadcast."
Link
Source: CNET News

Reviews:
Google Video Search Live - Google Blogoscoped
Google Video Goes Live in Beta; Suffers Next to Yahoo! Video - The Unofficial Google Weblog

See also:
Google Video Search - Google News
Google Video Search - Technorati
A Look At Other Web Video Search Tools - Search Engine Watch Blog

Discuss:
Google Moves Into Video - Slashdot
Google adds Video search - WebmasterWorld

Google Voice?

It makes sense. Why? Do you want to search for your voice data? What about transcripts? People want this kind of information and I suppose they will get it. It’s about the data, stupid!
Link
Source: Google News
[via John Battelle's Searchblog]

Update:
Jeff Pulver says:
"A quick check at the Spring 2005 VON delegate database shows that a number of Google executives in fact will be joining us in San Jose in March."
Link

See also:
Google Broadband
Google Broadband - 2
Why Google Is Not Doing VoIP - Om Malik
EuroTelcoblog
Google prepares Skype-killer phone service - VoIP Watch
Google Voice - Technorati
The VoIP Weblog
Voicebuzz
Telecom News - Topix.net

Audio:
Telecom Transformation - IT Conversations
The Telephone is a Platform - The Web 2.0 Weblog

Wikipedia:
Voice over IP

Discuss:
Google Plans Free VoIP In the UK - Slashdot

Google Broadband - 2

Evan Hansen asks:

"Is Google planning to build a global fiber optic network from scratch? And, if so, why? The question has cropped up in light of a recent job posting on the search engine giant's Web site seeking experts in the field."
Link
Source: CNET News

Google should and will diversify its revenue model. They remember Netscape's doom and won't repeat the same mistake. The advertising model won't be enough in the future. Why? The click fraud and the new aggressive players in the search field are the main threats. Google Mini is part of the transformational process. Wireless Hotspot Finder...What's next? Can we say Google Broadband?

Audio:
Broadband Internet and Consumer Behavior - IT Conversations

See also:
Web 2.0
The New Moore's Law
Google's Next Steps or Google in 2010
The Future of Media - 2
Google vs. IBM
Om Malik on Broadband
Google - Google News
Google - Topix.net
John Battelle's Searchblog
Google Blogoscoped
The Unofficial Google Weblog
InsideGoogle
Google - Slashdot
Broadband - Google News
Broadband - Topix.net
Broadband - Wikipedia
Data centre - Wikipedia
Grid computing - Wikipedia
Internet2 - Wikipedia

Discuss:
Google's Dark Fibre Plans? - Slashdot
Google News - WebmasterWorld

Update:
Google Enterprise Solutions

The Future of Apple

"Until January 2005, Apple had no iPod or PC products that served the mass market. With the launch of iPod Shuffle and Mac mini they have finally converged two product paths with the mass market in mind. This will not only drive more iPod sales (via the Shuffle), but also fulfill the promised 'halo' effect of the iPod products as PC users jump to the Mac mini. Over the course of 2005, Apple will continue to dominate and grow its MP3 player market share, while steadily growing its PC business through the Mac mini. As with the original iPod, the Mac mini could build slow, but serious momentum in the market place. Within a one to two year timeframe, the Mac mini could bring Apple to a tipping point in which a combination of factors create strong double digit market share in the mass-PC market, as Windows-based PC's continue to suffer from viruses and adware and users are drawn to the elegant and affordable simplicity of the Mac mini."

Link
Source: Nixlog

Audio:
Mac OS X Conference - IT Conversations
MacCast

Photos:
Photos tagged with Apple - Flickr
London Apple Store Grand Opening - Flickr

See also:
Apple - Google News
Apple Computer News - Topix.net
Apple - Technorati
The Unofficial Apple Weblog
Apple - Slashdot
The Big MacWorld Round Up - Om Malik
Mac OS X Conference - O'Reilly

The 2005 Edge Annual Question

"Great minds can sometimes guess the truth before they have either the evidence or arguments for it (Diderot called it having the 'esprit de divination'). What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?"

(120 contributors; 60,000 words:) Howard Gardner • Nicholas Humphrey • Marc D. Hauser • Daniel Gilbert • George Dyson • Daniel C. Dennett • William Calvin • Lawrence Krauss • Neil Gershenfeld • Joseph LeDoux • Stephen Kosslyn • Philip W. Anderson • Kevin Kelly • Paul Davies • Haim Harari • Janna Levin • Steven Pinker • Alison Gopnik • Martin E. P. Seligman • John McWhorter • Freeman Dyson • Robert Sapolsky • Leonard Susskind • Keith Devlin • Susan Blackmore • Clifford Pickover • Piet Hut • Gino Segre • Roger Schank • Alan Kay • Bruce Sterling • Judith Rich Harris • Arnold Trehub • Gregory Benford • Lynn Margulis • Sam Harris • Elizabeth Spelke • Kai Krause • Todd Feinberg • Nassim Nicholas Taleb • Irene Pepperberg • Jesse Bering • Scott Atran • Karl Sabbagh • Gary Marcus • Stuart A. Kauffman • Ray Kurzweil • John Barrow • Jaron Lanier • Alex Pentland • Richard Dawkins • Jean Paul Schmetz • Thomas Metzinger • John R. Skoyles • John Horgan • David Gelernter • Jordan Pollack • Lee Smolin • Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Jeffrey Epstein • Michael Shermer • Leon Lederman • Tom Standage • Simon Baron-Cohen • Stephen Petranek • J. Craig Venter • Maria Spiropulu • David Buss • Esther Dyson • David Myers • Denis Dutton • Donald Hoffman • Kenneth Ford • Margaret Wertheim • Alun Anderson • Philip Zimbardo • Paul Bloom • Robert Provine • W. Daniel Hillis • Martin Nowak • Seth Lloyd • Donald I. Williamson • Jonathan Haidt • Rebecca Goldstein • Ned Block • Christine Finn • Rupert Sheldrake • Rudy Rucker • Douglas Rushkoff • Verena Huber-Dyson • Chris W. Anderson • Charles Simonyi • Carolyn Porco • Martin Rees • Pamela McCorduck • James O'Donnell • John McCarthy • Carlo Rovelli • Leo Chalupa • Howard Rheingold • Steve Giddings • Tor Nшrretranders • Stanislas Deheane • Benoit Mandelbrot • Ellen Winner • Paul Steinhardt • Oliver Morton • Alexander Vilenkin • Terrence Sejnowski • Brian Goodwin • Stephen H. Schneider • Randolph Nesse • Timothy Taylor • Marti Hearst • Daniel Goleman • Jared Diamond • Anton Zeilinger • Ian Wilmut • Robert Trivers • Ian McEwan

Link
Source: Edge

See also:
"What do you believe is true even though you cannot prove it?" - Technorati

Human Performance Enhancement in 2032

Futurist John Smart speculates:

"This scenario looks at the way human performance enhancement is likely to be viewed by army planners thirty years hence, and explores some of the military implications of accelerating information technologies (infotech), specifically the linguistic user interface, personality capture, and the valuecosm. One of the main messages is that biotech and cognotech are likely to be a lot less disruptive than infotech over the next thirty years. If the data continue to validate this perspective, we should prioritize our development resources accordingly."

Link
Source: Institute for the Study of Accelerating Change
[via Sentient Developments]

See also:
Securing the Post-Human Future - CSO Magazine
Lifetime Digital Memory
Human Being 2.0
What 2034 will bring
Web 2.0

My Favourite Blogs

Blogs - Popular:
BuzzMachine
Dan Gillmor
Jeremy Zawodny
Robert Scoble
Bruce Sterling

Blogs - Favourite
Mitch Ratcliffe

Net:
Om Malik
apophenia

Business:
Fast Company Now
business2blog

Search:
Google Blogoscoped
John Battelle's Searchblog

Entrepreneur:
Emergic.org
Joi Ito
Loic Le Meur
Nova Spivack
Marc Canter
Adam Rifkin
Ross Mayfield
Jason Calacanis
Eric Rice

Security:
Defense Tech
John Robb
Global Guerrillas
Thomas Barnett
Bruce Schneier

Media:
Susan Mernit
editorsweblog.org

Marketing:
Seth Godin
Steve Rubel

Mobile Life:
Russell Beattie
Smart Mobs

Future:
Future Hi

Venture Capital:
A VC
Steve Jurvetson
SiliconBeat

Technology:
Moore's Lore

Audio:
Adam Curry

Video:
Rocketboom

Economics:
Paul Kedrosky

Entertainment:
KongIsKing.Net

Nanotech:
Responsible Nanotechnology

2,000 Feeds

Now, I have 2,000 feeds in my Bloglines account. What's next? 3,000, 5,000 or 10,000 feeds?
Link

See also:
Robert Scoble
Overload - Bloggercon III - IT Conversations