2011
Management versus Leadership
As people read the new authorized Steve Jobs biography, they are realizing that although he was one of the greatest thinkers of our time, he seemed to lack “management skills”. This brought up an interesting management debate about which is more important for the success of a company: management or leadership. What is Management? Management is the art and science of controlling people, processes and technology to deliver maximum value through the prism of corporate values and beliefs. What is Leadership?
Forrester says companies should support Apple Computers
When we thing of Apple computers, we usually think graphic arts departments or young hipsters but what would you say if a major research organization endorsed it as a productivity tool? Could it be? Has that day come. Oh yes my friends it has… Forrester Research calls Apple users within corporations “Highly Empowered and Resourceful Operatives”. They claim that this 17% of the corporate population is the one that pushes the most innovation. For non subscribers, the report costs $500 but you can read the most important snippets on this blog.
Humans are very opinionated. We have opinions about politics, economics, sports and everything in between. Enter the wacky world of prediction markets. These are speculative markets where market participants bet on future uncertain events. Just like the stock market, you make money by buying low and selling high. The most popular of these markets isInTrade. "Intrade isn't just an entertaining website. It is the latest iteration of one of the most important economic developments of modern times." David Leonhardt, Economics Reporter, The New York Times
Good shows iPad's dominating the enterprise environment
A recent activation report by Good Techbologies showed that the iPad and iPad 2 continue to dominate the tablet in the enterprise market (96% of all activations on Q3 2011 compared to just 4% for Andoird). On the handset front, the iphone commanded 28%. The most popular Android phone was the Evo 4G at 1.6%. “This quarter, we saw Android smartphones gain in percentage of total activations,” Good Technology senior vice president of corporate strategy John Herrema said. “This is likely due to the consumers holding back purchases of new iPhones in anticipation of Apple’s latest release (the iPhone 4S) — as our reports indiciate, consumers are setting the agenda for enterprise mobility.
Research shows that Nice Guys DO Finish Last
If you have read any self-help books, you have undoubtedly read the adage “Nice guys finish last”. Now research from Notre Dame and Cornell Universities show how being too agreeable negatively impacts your earnings. More recent research from Stanford, Northwestern and Carnegie Mellon) continued on the same path showing that people who are overly caring, for overs, generally tend to make bad leaders. In particular, being overly nice generally means that you will likely fail in 2 important leadership domains: prestige and dominance.
Apple's SIRI comes from a 10 year military research project
When talking about Apple’s new iPhone 4s, most users immediately think about the Apple Siri Assitant and the new 8 megapixel camera. Siri is a cool feature but did you know it comes from a DARPA military project called COLO? The lineage Although we only heard about Siri a couple of years ago (as a stand-alone iphone app), it is actually research that started 10 years ago in a DARPA funded project called Personalized Assistant that Learns. DARPA awarded the contract to a company called SRI, who dubbed their internal project Cognitive Agent that Learns and Organizes (CALO).
Susquehanna claims iPad 3 in production
With the iPhone 4s now released, tech pundits have turned their attention to the next product in line for a refresh the Ipad 3. Susquehanna Financial Group’s Jeffrey Fidacaro now claims the Ipad 3 is already in production preparing for a release in early 2012. Let the specification rumors start. Source: Barrons
Check out your site in different screen sizes
You spent all that time and money to build your website. It's a work of art. A monument to your awesomeness... Then why are some of your contacts (with smaller screen devices) complaining that it looks weird? Are you still sure the site is awesome? There is a cool free service called Screenfly that will show you how your site looks on different devices with different screen sizes (think desktop, tablet, mobile, etc). I decided to give it a whirl with my blog:
scr.im promises to protect you from SPAM... maybe
Scr.im a a novel approach to protecting your email address from harvesting robots thus reducing the likelyhood of it getting added to a SPAMmer list. To get started, you go to their site and enter your email address: Once you click on Protect my email It creates a unique link just for your pleasure: When someone visits one of those links, they are presented with a unique challenge and response system to ensure they are "
Scan your site for malware
With all of the recent news of sites getting hacked and infected by malware, you may be wondering how to scan your site. I recently stumbled on a cool free service called Sucuri SiteCheck. You visit the site and enter your URL: You then click on "Scan Website" and wait for the process to complete. In the middle of the next page, you will see your results: And voila. Piece of mind. It is important to note that this wouldnt be my primary security tool but one more tool in your kit.
Software as a Service reaches $12.1 billion in 2011
Gartner is reporting that SaaS revenue will reach $12.1 billion in 2011. 63.6 percent of all worldwide SaaS usage [in 2011] is expected to be in North America. It was interesting to see that the issue related to SaaS varies by region EMEA - Limited flexibility of customization. North America / Asia - Limited integration with existing systems. "In North America, ease and speed of deployment are primary reasons for SaaS adoption, followed by lower TCO," Ms.
Workflowy is a great list manager
Click on any image in this post to see it in full size My regular readers know about my addiction to David Allen’s GTD system. At its core, it is a well defined list management system. My tool of choice for my GTD implementation is Evernote but many of my co-workers and friends have become big fans of a web-based list service called Workflowy. As soon as you login, you will notice a clean and easy to use interface.
Windows 7 Will Be Running on 42% of PCs
Gartner Research believes that Microsoft's Windows 7 Operating System will be running on 42% of all PCs by the end of 2011. Supporting this move is the fact that 94% of all new PCs shipped in 2011 had Windows 7 pre-installed. Another interesting note is that "Gartner's forecast assumes that Windows 7 is likely to be the last version of Microsoft OS that gets deployed to everybody through big corporatewide migration." For Mac OS fans, Gartner believes 4.5% of new PCs shipped in 2011 will run Apple's operating system and that this will rise to 5.
Firefox 6 is now 8% of Chitika's total North American traffic
Chitika Insights, the research division of Chitika ad network, is reporting that 8% of its traffic is now Firefox 6. This data is based on Chitika’s analysis of their USA and Canada traffic. They go on to say that Firefox 6 accounts for 45% of all detected Firefox traffic, which is an impressive uptake of the new version (considering it was released August 16). They mentioned that they expected adoption to slow a little. Click on any of the below images to see a full size graph.
Amazon's Android Tablet may be here in September
When I say tablet, most people will automatically think of Apple’s iPad. But if the fire-sale liquidation of HP’s WebOS tablets taught us anything, it is that consumers will buy anything for the right price. The New York Post is now claiming that Amazon’s much talked about Android tablet will be released soon and cost hundreds less than Apple’s iPad. Their unnamed source claims that the mythical Amazon tablet will launch sometime on September or October and be priced aggressively to ensure it sells.
iPhone 5 may have a sub 4" display and a metal back
Digitimes is at it again and now believes the iPhone 5 will sport a display smaller than 4 inches (3.5-3.7 inches). They are also claiming that the glass back will be replaced with a metal one. Other claims are ones we have hear before namely: an 8 megapixel camera, full HD video recording, the iPad 2's A5 dual-core processor and a thinner design. Most "unnamed sources" seem to agree on these specs which means although the iPhone 5 will get a slight spec bump, it is an evolutionary upgrade.
The Getting Things Done Workflow (GTD)
Life has a way of always getting more complicated so I am constantly searching for the next tool, technique or methodology that will make my life easier. A couple of years ago, I stumbled on David Allen’s Getting Things Done book and I knew I knew this was something special. I had gone through many other time management techniques from ABC prioritization to the Eisenhower method. Nothing else seemed to be as simple or powerful. I have also referred to it in previous posts here and here.
Steve Jobs resigns as CEO of Apple
Although many pundits and bloggers expected this new to come [some day], most were shocked by this sudden announcement. The resignation letter was published on businesswire: I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come. I hereby resign as CEO of Apple. I would like to serve, if the Board sees fit, as Chairman of the Board, director and Apple employee.