technology today offers several options to carry on your digital life. Devices such as mobile phones, tablets, netbooks and laptops offers a portability solution that suit to any need. however, do we need all of these devices?? or do we need only one that can unify all these?
my question goes attached with somebody concern for the new android tablets, arguing that the applications are not specific for tablet, even more they are the same applications for the mobile, but in a bigger display. but, based on this statement new questions arise: do we need apps for mobile and apps for tablets?. furthermore, should they be different? or just look better in a bigger screen?
Despite that I'm not a Mac enthusiast, I've found a clue with them, acknowledging their influence in the IT market, in the latest Ipad, which besides of its updated twice faster processor, offers as big development with a choir on the background singing the hallelujah (ok, maybe I might be exaggerating a little) the retina display, which after was adopted in the new mac book (choirs singing at the max volume). So, in the raise of computer power all the companies are following Moore's law, therefore a new, improved and powerful processor is not the wow factor as it use to be, so what is now this factor that will move the people to the stores and buy your product? the apple bid was for a better display.
Now, on the other side, the google side, this company is investing in the "Google glass", which allows you to have everything at the glance of your eyes (see a demo in http://youtu.be/9c6W4CCU9M4). This project reminds me the famous "sixth sense" presented in TED talk (http://youtu.be/fQEHtvNsfKE), which promise that with a single device connected to the internet you can have access to a machine, allowing to carry on the basic task of your digital life.
finally, one more video about how display is the way, is "A day made of glass" (http://youtu.be/6Cf7IL_eZ38) showing how everything will be displayed on "intelligent" glass screens regardless the device used because its amazing compatibility. which brings again to the table do we need different apps for mobiles and tablets?
So why we need so many devices?,we have mobiles, tablets (new warfiled will be the 7 inches, besides the 10 inches), laptops, which everyday are slimmer, like a tablet, desktops with bigger screens, as well as devices to share the contents across the house (apple tv, google box). With the time we will realise that the device won't be important for the user, and what we matter is about portability and mostly a good portable display, unifying all these devices in one. which one will win the war, only the time can say.
jueves, 12 de julio de 2012
jueves, 1 de diciembre de 2011
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth. Donations to the University
After reading an article in the Financial Times, about the £1.5 million donation from Gaddafi's foundation to the prestigious London School of Economics -LSE-, six weeks after Seif al-Islam Gaddafi (son of former Libya president) had been awarded his doctorate, several thoughts came to my mind.
The first one, is a popular saying in Colombia: "Even in the best families happens...". Probably it was the first one given an evil tendency to look for the malicious side of this type of news, in which the speaker might insinuate something, but saying nothing that could compromise him/her. Some people call it prudence, others diplomacy and others "throw the stone and hide the hand", but lets call it diplomacy for the newspaper case. Although this kinds of news are in a blurry line with gossips, but no those cheap jet set gossips, these ones are the special ones that you can only hear in coffee breaks and cocktails, in which everybody talk about everything but after nobody can remember who says what or where they heard about the story. Anyway my intention is not to talk about gossips ( but you can meet me for a coffee break!). I will close this part citing the BBC web site article about this issue "He [Lord Woolf, who investigate the case] also concludes that the timing of the donation, six weeks after Saif Gaddafi was awarded a PhD, was "unfortunate", "risky", "indicative of naivety at the LSE" and gave the impression that Saif had "purchased his degree", so I'm not the only one who tends to read between lines, but I love the diplomacy and the use of the adjectives.
The second thought is about the universities funding needs, and the origins of the money. Nowadays the cases of students demonstrations in Chile, Colombia and UK because of the cut to education funds has shown the effects of funds cutting policies could have in the education system, which in the long run will affect the future and competitiveness of the people and therefore of the country. At least since the last decade I've been hearing the speech of how universities have to be sustainable from external funds and consultancy services, which in the paper sounds good, but in the practice the model is still weak and misinterpreted .
I know that a university beyond the social role is a business as well, and in order to continue offering the educational services, the institution have to sustainable, and why not profitable -even though we all know how profitable can be a private university-. Thus, the incomes of the university can come from the following sources: public budget, registration fees, external funding, donations. in a future post I will talk about the first three to keep the post short.
Donations, is like a holy grail for universities, alumni and PR offices make all sort of events and possible efforts to convince potential charitable souls to donate generous amounts of money to their institutions, you know that apart from the taxes deduction and other benefits you will fell really good with yourself knowing that you are helping not only the university, but also the society (insert picture of students saying thanks).
But as Rudyard Kipling said "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch", hence, you are not going to gift/donate £1.5 millions , just because you have a big hearth as Gaddafi's Family. You know that your generosity will be rewarded in this life; give me the money to make a new building or to research the cosmos and the new building or the star discovered will have your name, just as humble way to say thanks (insert picture with researchers smiling and thumbs up). And I will confess that I had dreamed with at least an auditorium with my name. Imagine an invitation to an event to be held in the "Osorio" building; although, probably I am not only one who had dreamed with a building named in my honour.
However, the issue with donations is that money can come from diverse sources or intentions, as the case of the LSE, in which the news insinuate that this donation was a cover for some contracts in Libya, or the case of other donations that comes from non-sanctus origins, like drug/criminal cartels in countries who have this horrendous problem. Thus, an ethical dilemma arise in the charity panorama: Is not only to find the money but also where and when it comes and their impact in the image of the university, which create the need for a practice code or a regulation document, which is good to protect the institution from scandals, but also narrows the list of candidates to benefactors, because maybe is not well seen that some people/companies from certain company or affiliation contributes with the university, which leads towards segregation in some cases, like some controversial companies, which are completely legal but with polemic practices in some parts of the planet, which makes me think in creating a certification norm to be considered as potential donor, now that are creating standard certifications for everything, moreover who will integrate the board who gives the certification?.
If this topic is not managed carefully, it will lead to a regression to the old times in which your family name was your presentation card, denying the opportunity to valuable efforts to people that don't belong to the aristocracy, or to those who make a mistake in the past and want to start again. So, the challenge is to find the balance between finding the sources of donations, ethical code and the impact in the university image.
As a conclusion incomes and profits are outcomes of a process in which the process is as important as the result, showing how important are the ethical issues in any business decision, and how the good will of a company can be affected by a good - and "naive"- intention of a member, due to a good deed of get a generous donation and the pressure to get external funding.
The first one, is a popular saying in Colombia: "Even in the best families happens...". Probably it was the first one given an evil tendency to look for the malicious side of this type of news, in which the speaker might insinuate something, but saying nothing that could compromise him/her. Some people call it prudence, others diplomacy and others "throw the stone and hide the hand", but lets call it diplomacy for the newspaper case. Although this kinds of news are in a blurry line with gossips, but no those cheap jet set gossips, these ones are the special ones that you can only hear in coffee breaks and cocktails, in which everybody talk about everything but after nobody can remember who says what or where they heard about the story. Anyway my intention is not to talk about gossips ( but you can meet me for a coffee break!). I will close this part citing the BBC web site article about this issue "He [Lord Woolf, who investigate the case] also concludes that the timing of the donation, six weeks after Saif Gaddafi was awarded a PhD, was "unfortunate", "risky", "indicative of naivety at the LSE" and gave the impression that Saif had "purchased his degree", so I'm not the only one who tends to read between lines, but I love the diplomacy and the use of the adjectives.
The second thought is about the universities funding needs, and the origins of the money. Nowadays the cases of students demonstrations in Chile, Colombia and UK because of the cut to education funds has shown the effects of funds cutting policies could have in the education system, which in the long run will affect the future and competitiveness of the people and therefore of the country. At least since the last decade I've been hearing the speech of how universities have to be sustainable from external funds and consultancy services, which in the paper sounds good, but in the practice the model is still weak and misinterpreted .
I know that a university beyond the social role is a business as well, and in order to continue offering the educational services, the institution have to sustainable, and why not profitable -even though we all know how profitable can be a private university-. Thus, the incomes of the university can come from the following sources: public budget, registration fees, external funding, donations. in a future post I will talk about the first three to keep the post short.
Donations, is like a holy grail for universities, alumni and PR offices make all sort of events and possible efforts to convince potential charitable souls to donate generous amounts of money to their institutions, you know that apart from the taxes deduction and other benefits you will fell really good with yourself knowing that you are helping not only the university, but also the society (insert picture of students saying thanks).
But as Rudyard Kipling said "There ain't no such thing as a free lunch", hence, you are not going to gift/donate £1.5 millions , just because you have a big hearth as Gaddafi's Family. You know that your generosity will be rewarded in this life; give me the money to make a new building or to research the cosmos and the new building or the star discovered will have your name, just as humble way to say thanks (insert picture with researchers smiling and thumbs up). And I will confess that I had dreamed with at least an auditorium with my name. Imagine an invitation to an event to be held in the "Osorio" building; although, probably I am not only one who had dreamed with a building named in my honour.
However, the issue with donations is that money can come from diverse sources or intentions, as the case of the LSE, in which the news insinuate that this donation was a cover for some contracts in Libya, or the case of other donations that comes from non-sanctus origins, like drug/criminal cartels in countries who have this horrendous problem. Thus, an ethical dilemma arise in the charity panorama: Is not only to find the money but also where and when it comes and their impact in the image of the university, which create the need for a practice code or a regulation document, which is good to protect the institution from scandals, but also narrows the list of candidates to benefactors, because maybe is not well seen that some people/companies from certain company or affiliation contributes with the university, which leads towards segregation in some cases, like some controversial companies, which are completely legal but with polemic practices in some parts of the planet, which makes me think in creating a certification norm to be considered as potential donor, now that are creating standard certifications for everything, moreover who will integrate the board who gives the certification?.
If this topic is not managed carefully, it will lead to a regression to the old times in which your family name was your presentation card, denying the opportunity to valuable efforts to people that don't belong to the aristocracy, or to those who make a mistake in the past and want to start again. So, the challenge is to find the balance between finding the sources of donations, ethical code and the impact in the university image.
As a conclusion incomes and profits are outcomes of a process in which the process is as important as the result, showing how important are the ethical issues in any business decision, and how the good will of a company can be affected by a good - and "naive"- intention of a member, due to a good deed of get a generous donation and the pressure to get external funding.
miércoles, 21 de septiembre de 2011
Group work. The carriage parabole
the last week, I read a blog about group work, which reminds me something that I said to my students every time they have to work in groups. I don't know the new advances in pedagogy, but I always use the example of the carriage, as shown in the graph, in which the limit for group work is three people.
This number is because in every team with three members of more, there is always the same configuration:
(1)
This number is because in every team with three members of more, there is always the same configuration:
(1)- The horse: the one who makes all the work.
- the boss: the one who give all the orders to the horse.
- the freeriders: the one who enjoy all the work done by the team (that is why the happy face)
The typical configuration is 1 horse, 1 boss and 1or more free-riders, and when the total of members is greater than three, the increment of people goes most of the times to the free riders, a few times for the bosses and rarely to the workers.
This "parabole" was originally taught by one of my teachers in my BA in Industrial Engineering in the National University of Colombia, and hope can be useful to you.
1. Image taken from http://www.edupics.com/coloring-page-carriage-i18769.html
lunes, 5 de septiembre de 2011
Business, technology and medicine, what is failing in the mix?
How correct , and most important, how human is the logic of offering to a risk population, (understood as people who suffer -or can suffer- a disease ) new technological advances with the excuse of decreasing their visits to the doctor and therefore the use of the health system??
Who are the real beneficiaries of these advances: the people?, the government? the private health operators?
there are technological advances like chips around tumour cells (1), or sensors transmitting and storing the vital signs of the owner. But to which extent, these devices helps in case of an emergency?, have the hospitals or the health system, some special office in charge of information analysis of the data generated by this technology?, do the make any personalised forecast with this information? (think about it, is a new business niche!!!, if somebody make a business about this, please contact me to give you my details, so you can send me for a good whiskey for my idea)
The figure present the interaction between the three main actors in this scenario (as google says is a beta version), but I think, shows why the Ambient and Asisted Living (AAL) projects are not working as they should actually do, and basically is because the actors are most interested in the development of their own issues rather than a real solution to the problems focused in the society. (of course is open to discussion), b
From the business side there are new initiatives, like the SIDE project (2) and SALT project (3) both in Newcastle university (where I am doing my PhD in Business) (4) that are working in this problem, but despite the fact of previous interdisciplinary projects/groups, the results (as far as I know, that is no much) are still isolated, amazing devices with no future in business, either for the cost of production and difficult marketing; a lot of information that no body cares (this line is not in the figure, showing the broken link), and for the few that really cares don't understand the information (just those "initiated" in medical science), and don't know how to work with it (line not present for the same reasons).
I wonder what will be the future of the medicine, but the creation of biomedicine (combination of electronics and medicine) gives a good tips about the direction, so maybe in the future, when you go to the hospital for an specialist, you will not know how to call it, doctor? engineer?
as a final thought by now, for who is a good business this technological advances in the long run? and how to make to reach the balance in the public health, between the well-being of the patients and money that companies can make of it (yes make money is fine!!)
I would like to hear from your interpretations about the graphic, and your opinions about the topic.
my twitter is @caosoriot and my google+
(1) http://www.kienyke.com/2011/09/04/un-microchip-en-tumores/
(2) http://www.side.ac.uk/
(3)http://www.ncl.ac.uk/biomedicine/news/newsitem.htm?id=north-east-leads-the-way-in-planning-for-an-ageing-population
(4) self promotion space, haha
miércoles, 17 de agosto de 2011
crowdsourcing + auditing: a good idea to fight corruption
Since a long time ago the corruption in the government has been a curse in the public finance, this situation can be seen vividly in poor countries (it does not mean that in the developed countries does not happen, but this is another discussion) wherein the corruption makes that the money assigned for government projects (like roads, building of schools, etc. ) benefits some specific company or themselves.
My idea, based in readings about social networks for my thesis, is to create a crowdsourcing (basically a group of people who participate in voluntary bases) that check the financial progress and the real advance of the government contracts. I think that achieve people's participation is quite easy, making interesting to study the motifs behind the participation, like political interest of those who did not got the contract, and all these power and political games, in other words, how to get something good from something not so good (the aims and intentions of the participants), based in the public validation (another topic for further research)
to make this crowdsourcing works, one thing is required, that the actual (and future) government (at any level) allows opening to the people the financial and contractor's report. Maybe now that in my country (my loved Colombia) are in political campaign, the population, the electors, can make that exigence, and maybe one of those "new politicians" who wants to fight the corruption take my idea.
the open auditing crowdsourcing is a good place to practice for students, not only of accounting but also of other disciplines that are interesting in the data and its analysis, as well as for those people with enough time and knowledge like retired that can make a good labour for their countries and for others as well, given the fact of the international standards and the open nature of the groups.
I ll be working on the idea to improve it, and invite you, dear reader, to do it as well, to we can produce new ideas to make the world a better place
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