Month: August 2003

At the moment, the torellini al fredo I had for dinner is revolting in my stomach, lying heavier than a 50lb bag of cement and yet seemingly defying gravity at the same time. Yet that’s not what all the “eeek!”-ing is about.

After dropping Austin, a good friend from college who now residing in NYC came down for the evening to visit, at the bus stop in East Brunswick, I decided to take a swing by the Route 18 – River Road interchange and Route 18 extension to see how far along the construction is. Besides the new overpasses, two items stuck out from what I could see. The first was a new circle to replace the intersection down by the Sonny Werblin center. The other was the remodeling of Davidson Road, including a new section before the suites that is completely different. I’m not even sure where these new roads all lead to. Granted, it was around midnight and dark, so I wasn’t able to get the full effect. I’m tempted, strongly, to return during the daylight tomorrow with my camera, since a week from now classes will be starting and traffic will be terrible every day of the week.

As I speak, the season finale of Amazing Race, which is my absolute favorite TV show. While I usually don’t care much for reality TV shows, in particular these types of mass media shows, yet a show designed around travel is unsurprisingly one I enjoy. In fact, I would LOVE to be a contestant, and winning wouldn’t even matter.

I first saw Netomat on Joi Ito’s blog a month ago, and thought at the time I would like to create one for myself. So, here’s one for the Blackout of 2003. Anyone who has anything to share, please go right ahead! That’s the fun of it!

I have so many thoughts to express, but it’s just been too hectic the past two days. Hopefully I’ll find some time to rail on about the tragedies in the world tomorrow.

Given my experiences on the ride in this morning, I thought I’d share this CNN article on distracted driving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen other drivers putting on make-up, drinking coffee, and talking on cell phones. The worst, though, was the time I actually saw another driver reading the newspaper, spread out across the steering wheel! Honestly, how can you drive and read the Wall Street Journal at the same time?

Reports have surfaced today indicating that China will not allow government computers to come installed with any non-Chinese-developed software, putting a major crimp in Microsoft’s expansion strategy. I imagine Bill Gates is fuming, especially after having played nice, showing off the source code and courting the government there.

How long until that source code turns up in the latest Chinese-built OSes?

I must have had the invisibility cloak on during my drive to work this morning. Shortly after I got on Route 22, the car in the lane to my left decided that he would change lanes on top of me. Only with some quick swerving and braking was I able to avoid him. Then, less than 30 seconds later, the jerk in the SUV who had pulled along side decided that he, too, wanted to try forcing me off the road. I really need to find switch because I don’t care for this kind of excitement so early in the morning.

I read the oddest statement of the day in ABC’s Recall coverage:

Accusations also flew on the Republican side of the governor’s race, as 2002 gubernatorial nominee Bill Simon unveiled radio ads suggesting that rival Arnold Schwarzenegger is a liberal.

Suggesting he’s a liberal? A.S. ISa liberal. There’s nothing to suggest. From what I’ve read about his positions (though his web site tells us nothing), he supports, or at least doesn’t condemn, such ideas as abortion and gay marriage. Those are relatively liberal positions to take, so I can only imagine that it isn’t exactly difficult to “suggest” he’s a liberal.

Last night Dave and I attended the Princeton Shakespeare festival where we watched The Merry Wives of Windsor, an entertaining production done by a theatre company based in Princeton. Very similar in style to the one I saw last weekend in Cuppertino, it was quite a fun production, once we moved close enough to be within range of the speakers. To be honest, I only wish I could follow the dialogue a bit better. I’ve found at Shakespeare performances that when there’s a clever bit of dialogue, only a handful of people in the crowd actually understand it and laugh, while everyone else merely wonders at what’s being said.

In other news, the WaPo came out with another article spinning Bush lies. Given that I received this in an e-mail from the DNC, I don’t expect anyone else actually read it. But at least one major media outlet is attempting to correct the misinformation they were fed this past Winter and Spring.

So, I finished a suite of articles in BusinessWeek that were in my opinion far too rosy about the business prospects for the technology sector over the next several years. While they made a consistent argument about innovation not being “dead” in the tech sector, it is important to remember that innovation does not guarantee profits. Look at such companies/ideas as Satellite (sp?) radio, the good old TiVo, and mp3s for fantastic examples of innovation that have not led to profits, at least not thus far, and may never do so.

It’s important, too, when surveying the technology landscape that much of the infrastructure segments of technology, such as all but the highest end hardware, and much of today’s common productivity software, are all commodities. While providing a relatively stable cash flow, there is no large revenue growth associated with them. And for good reason, as nearly everyone who needs or wants them can afford them. It is as a presenter from the Vaccine division put it: when a vaccine is first launched, there is an initial growth phase where everyone “catches up”. Once that phase is complete, the growth levels off and revenue remains relatively constant in sync with the annual population. Many infrastructure suppliers face a similar situation. With the buildout complete at nearly all the global companies, these components will only be replaced as part of a regular cycle.

Those, too, looking for wireless and broadband to suddenly power a whole new revolution, like the one experienced during the late ’90s, are also likely to be disappointed. The wireless industry has already become relatively commoditized, partly as a result of the standardization that has occurred, while has led to adoption of low-end, inexpensive gear. I already am on my second wireless access point, having upgraded to 802.11g, and for under $100. And this is before the final 802.11g specification has been ratified by the appropriate standards body. While wireless will become an enabler of future applications, wireless itself is, to be frank, nothing but a piece of gee-whiz tech.

On the other hand, much of the value, from an enterprise point of view, will come from being able to collect, process, and exchange more data faster than ever before. Being able to put in place global business processes at multinational organizations will also provide a method of reducing costs, and much of this work at many large companies is still in progress. There certainly remains value in the adoption of technology, and new methods of integration will provide plenty of room for innovation. However, I expect that much of the future value of tech will not flow to the top lines (i.e revenue) of technology companies, but rather to the bottom line in terms of profits to those companies that are able to effectively adopt and deploy valuable innovations within technology. And, in my opinion, the BusinessWeek special feature completely missed the point by neglecting this.