Watts Up

Hervey Bay, Coolum and B&C's wedding

Ben & I had a very relaxing time in Hervey Bay (thanks Owen for being a wonderful host) and in Coolum. Congratulations to Bianca and Carlos who got married in Coolum on Saturday!

Photos are here: Hervey Bay, Coolum & wedding.

What if?

I had a tough week last week and really needed to find some inspiration. I picked up an old book off the shelf. It's titled 'Life 101: Everything We Wish We Had Learned About Life In School - But Didn't' by John-Roger and Peter McWilliams.

It is a fantastic book, containing lots of useful tools. I thought I'd share the prelude with you. It made me smile.

PRELUDE:

What If?

What if life were perfect?

What if you lived in a perfect world of perfect people and perfect possessions, with everyone and everything doing the perfect thing at the perfect time?

What if you had everything you wanted, and only what you wanted, exactly as you wanted, precisely when you wanted it?

What if, after luxuriating in this perfect world for the perfect amount of time, you began thinking, "There seems to be a lack of risk, adventure and fun in perfection. Having it 'my way' all the time is starting to get dull."

What if, after yet another perfect length of time, you decided, "Perfection is a perfect bore."

What if, at that point in your perfect world, you noticed for the first time a button marked, "Surprise."

What if you walked over, considered all that might be contained in the concept of "surprise", decided, "Anything's better than perfect boredom", took a deep breath, pushed the button...

...and found yourself where you are right now - feeling what you're feeling now, thinking what you're thinking now, with everything in your life precisely the way it is now - reading this blog.

RIP Basil

Basil, you were 'the best' horse.

I will always remember and miss you; your nicker of greeting, your handsome face, your athleticism and focus, your enthusiasm for jumping, carrots and clover, your bravery and your beautiful kind eyes.

I'd like to imagine you're cavorting, pain free; galloping, bucking and squealing in delight to be back with a herd of friends from your past, in green rolling hills (with lots of clover) and fresh mountain streams.

Rest in peace xx

Photos from the time I was lucky enough to spend with Basil.

NSW Government releases 'Animal Welfare Code of Practice'

The NSW Government has released 'Animal Welfare Code of Practice - Breeding dogs and cats', designed to strengthen animal welfare standards. 

Great work Minister Macdonald!

Ian Macdonald: “(The Code of Practice) clearly outlines minimum standards that must be met by commercial breeders planning to sell a litter, and industry best practice requirements that breeders should aspire to meet. Most breeders already meet the high standards set out in the code, but those not meeting the new standards must now lift their game.”

This is a great start. I would also like to see:

1. Government review the Animal Cruelty Act and enforce MUCH higher penalties/jail time to person/s who commit acts of cruelty to animals.

2. Pet owner licenses become mandatory. I think pet owners should have to take a test (like a driving theory test) covering health care, animal psychology, positive training methods, plus information specific to the type of animal / breed they are planning to own. I think if people understood things like; Labradors are HIGH ENERGY or Golden Retrievers will pine if left on their own outside, then far fewer animals would suffer - or end up in the pound.

It seems strange to me that humans have to take driving tests to operate a car, but don't have to pass any form of education / training to be 100% responsible for a fully dependent living being.

What do you think?

The dust storm in perspective

What did Sydney look like from above earlier today? A desert!

Nice one arjbarker!

The only thing I haven't seen *yet* is a viral video of people in storm-trooper helmets...

Sydney turns red, 23 Sept 09

I thought I'd woken up with rose-tinted spectacles on. Others feared Armageddon. Sydney had turned red with dust.

As the redness was subsiding to a gentle pink, I took the dog for a walk and, armed with my iPhone, took some pics.

This is my fave. It looks like Quilla the golden retriever is contemplating why the whole world has turned golden.

See the rest of my pics.

My friend Pete took some much better pics, see them on Flickr here.

You can read the Sydney Morning Herald article on the red dust phenomenon (and more good pictures!) here.

Shift happens 4.0

An educational video for teachers was created in the US in 2006. The objective was (and still is) to come up with a system of education for our children that prepares them for the 21st century.

The video (about the pace of change, focusing primarily in globalisation and the information age), became an internet hit in 2007. See my earlier post. As with its subject matter, it's changing rapidly.

Version 4.0 was recently released on YouTube. It's worth a look.

You can get involved via the Shift Happens Wiki.

We won!

I took Basil the horse to the Northside & Avondale One Day Event on 5 & 6 Sept. The 'One Day Event' (ODE) is actually held over two days; the dressage and show jumping were on the Saturday and cross-country on the Sunday.

We were in the lead after the dressage phase. I had a little drama in the show jumping warm up arena - I landed heavily on my ankle in the stirrup over a practice fence and wasn't sure whether I'd be able to put weight on it again in the stirrup! But after a couple of minutes my ankle went numb and we jumped a smooth clear round. That evening I couldn't walk and was couch-bound with ankle strapped, iced, elevated and dosed up on Nurofen!

I worried that I might not be able to walk the cross country course on Sunday morning, so was relieved to find myself able to hobble when I got up at the crack of dawn.

I walked slowly twice around the course on foot (I had to learn the course, work out how many strides I should ride between fences etc) and then flew around it on Basil the super horse to secure our victory!

I was thrilled to win it - Basil has been fed a lot of carrots in the last week!

If you're interested in learning more about the equestrian sport of eventing, there is a good article on Wikipedia. I only do the small stuff, we were competing at Prelim level, which in Australia means maximum jump height 95 cm, ditch 2 m and drops 1.2 m. The highest level of the sport involves maximum fence height 1.20 m, ditch 3.60 m and drops 2 m.

Lots more Basil pics here.

Best restaurant review, for the best restaurant in the world.

A friend of mine just put this on Facebook:

"Best restaurant review I've ever read, for the best restaurant in the world."

Dinner at El Bulli: The Greatest Restaurant in the World - The Amateur Gourmet - a funny food blog filled with recipes, restaurant reviews, food videos and original songs.

I read the review and I have to agree.

It also made me wonder if this demonstrates the lengths that people will need to go to in the future (of content proliferation / overload) to make their content stand out?

Let me know what you think.

ENGAGEMENTdb study on Social Media Marketing and correlation to financial metrics

It looks like Charlene Li (co-author of Groundswell) left Forrester and set up Altimeter Group.

And it looks like she's been busy. Wetpaint/Altimeter Group have gone beyond surface case studies to measure the true financial value of social media.

From the Introduction:
"We conducted our research not just on a small scale, but based on the world’s 100 most valuable brands – these are brands that are widely acknowledged for setting the standards in marketing as measured by BusinessWeek / Interbrand “Best Global Brands 2008” rankings. And now, we evaluate how well they are engaging their consumers using social media and, even more importantly, how that engagement correlates with their most important financial metrics: revenue and profit.

"A surprising conclusion: While much has been written questioning the value of social media, this landmark study has found that the most valuable brands in the world are experiencing a direct correlation between top financial performance and deep social media engagement. The relationship is apparent and significant: socially engaged companies are in fact more financially successful.

"This report also contains case studies highlighting our interviews with four unique companies – Starbucks, Toyota, SAP, and Dell – all of which scored top quartile engagement rankings. By going beyond just the statistics, we introduce a playbook for how the best are succeeding in social media so that you, too, can engage and succeed."

The Report:
Is a good read. It is accessible here.

Further info is at www.engagementdb.com

Christmas in July

Our Christmas in July was french themed this year (just for a bit of variety).

Thanks to those of you who came, bearing elements of Le Revellion (the French Christmas feast). It was un bon nombre d'amusement et très délicieux!

Pics are up here.

Disorderly conduct arrest leads to White House drinking session

Ok, so Obama is the master of reconciliation. It seems to be rubbing off on many around him.

This story is as gold as the beer. The headline: Obama Beer Photo Op Now White House History.

Student Insights on Smarter Cities

IBM held a Smarter Planet University Jam, a massive online collaboration event where nearly 2,000 students offered their progressive take on what would make a better, smarter world. 

The students from over 200 universities in 40 countries discussed a number of topics, including the environment, education, work skills, and healthcare.

"Students are confident that their future will be a smarter place – a world where they will drive cars that get 100 miles per gallon, learn in virtual classrooms connected with students across the globe, and where they can run their businesses on a secure, energy-efficient and interconnected grid. They are boldly challenging the industry to transform that vision into their reality, and IBM is committed to meeting that challenge," said Jai Menon, vice president of technical strategy and university programs, IBM.

“The Smarter Planet University Jam was one of the most exciting and innovative experiences I have ever been a part of. IBM is setting the standard for the corporate world to start learning from the people that depend on them,” said Taylor Vogt, a student majoring in political science at Pace University.

Much of the jam focused on progressive and smart-growth ideas related to water management, healthcare, universities, open source technology, and city building.

“This kind of free-flowing forum is extremely vital to the sustainability movement, where far too often good ideas are never shared or worse, never listened to. I was proud to be a part of this experience,” said Vogt. 

Sounds like it was a success. Read the full details in the 'News In Business' article.

Jeremy Hodge + a couple of the interns at IBM, Daniela Retelny and Michelle Morrison put together a short video reflecting the results from the jam as well as another survey they conducted independently among a group of college students. The video is now on the 'Building a Smarter Planet' blog.

*The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

TED talks: Clay Shirky

I just came across this video from the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference. It's an excellent presentation by Clay Shirky on the media transformation caused by Web 2.0.

It covers examples including the earthquake in Sichuan province, the issues China is now facing in terms of trying to control the Internet - and why Obama gets it.

Many more videos on ted.com.

Kazaa to rise from the dead

It's happened folks. Kazaa has joined the ranks of Napster and Pirate Bay as a legit paid music download service. The deal in the US is $20 per month for unlimited music downloads. WMA format. Will it fly?

From smh.com.au:

"The new Kazaa, to be announced on Tuesday, will initially only be available to people in the United States due to licensing issues but Bermeister said he was expecting it to be available to Australians within six months.

"In the US, customers pay $US20 a month and can download as many songs as they like.

"People have been enamoured with the ability to rebel and break through and get stuff for free, but I think sentiment is changing and people are going to shift towards a quality [legal] product," Bermeister said in a phone interview."

Full article here.

I guess time will tell. I'm not convinced the new Kazaa is going to be able to take much market share from iTunes (the WMA format won't help). But then, there may be additional functionality. Good luck Kevin.

BBC 'Digital Revolution' Project

To celebrate 20 years of the Web, the BBC has launched a 'Digital Revolution' project. They want it to be a collaborative effort, in the true two-way spirit of online.

Read the BBC article 'Charting the Digital Revolution'.

Get involved via the 'BBC Digital Revolution' blog.

Microsoft ad: 'The Break Up'

Now this is weird; a strange combination of content and format. But it seems to work as a viral ad! Watch the ad.

IBM's 'Smarter Planet' campaign + focus on Growth Markets paying off in Q2 results

The Smarter Planet advertising campaign and strategy of investing in Growth Markets seem to be paying off.

From the press release on ibm.com:

IBM today announced second-quarter 2009 diluted earnings of $2.32 per share compared with diluted earnings of $1.97 per share in the second quarter of 2008, an increase of 18 percent.

The earnings per share results were the highest for any first, second or third quarter in the company's history, adjusted for stock splits.

Second-quarter net income was $3.1 billion compared with $2.8 billion in the second quarter of 2008, an increase of 12 percent. Total revenues for the second quarter of 2009 of $23.3 billion decreased 13 percent (7 percent, adjusting for currency) from the second quarter of 2008.

"As a result of our strategic transformation, we have a very strong business model that is delivering superior earnings, cash and client value," said Samuel J. Palmisano, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer.

"We have continued our strategic investments in Smarter Planet solutions, business analytics and next generation data centers. As a result we are optimistic about how IBM is positioned to make the most of current growth opportunities as well as those that emerge as the economy recovers. We are well ahead of pace for our 2010 roadmap of $10 to $11 per share."

IBM said it now expects full-year 2009 earnings of at least $9.70 per share compared with its previous expectation of at least $9.20 per share.

18 percent of geographic revenues in Q2 came from Growth Markets.

*The postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent IBM’s positions, strategies or opinions.

Smart Energy (aka Smart Grid)

Yesterday, General Electric unveiled a project at its research labs that will let homeowners cut annual energy consumption to zero by 2015. Read the article on CNet.

Sounds a lot like IBM's Smart Energy messaging. See the fun video or landing page.

So which companies will be involved and how will this roll out? CNET's Green Tech blog post explains what a 'Smart grid' is, the benefits and the barriers to adoption. From the article:

"Who are the companies participating in the smart grid?
The smart grid is shaping up to be a giant mash-up of the electricity utility, computing, and communications industries.

"Heavyweight tech companies--Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and Google--all have serious initiatives in this area and loom large among utility executives working on smart-grid programs.

"IBM, which sees big dollar signs when it gets involved in large infrastructure projects, is building the technology backbone for many grid modernization programs. That includes installing communications equipment along the grid as well as the software and servers to process the mountains of data that need to be processed.

"Cisco, too, is jumping in with both feet with a broad initiative to supply networking equipment for utilities as well as in-home energy management tools. Verizon is looking at this as well, seeing the home network as a point to gather data on home energy use and, potentially, control lighting and appliances for better efficiency.

"Microsoft and Google are going after consumers as well while trying to sign on utility partners.

"The other key players are the host of start-ups in the area, many of which focus on energy displays. A handful of stronger network-oriented companies are emerging, notably Silver Spring Networks, which offers a wireless card that goes into smart meters.

"Finally, there's the electrical infrastructure itself: meters, transformers, transmission equipment, and other hardware that makes the grid tick. In addition to a number of smart meter makers, there are the global infrastructure companies like GE, Siemens, and ABB that are introducing modern control systems to manage the flow of electricity."

Lets hope these companies play nicely to overcome the technology challenges. There are plenty of other barriers to adoption, including consumer acceptance, government support and investment. Will be an interesting area to watch.

Australia's NBN: Conroy's digital economy roadmap

Digital Economy Minister Stephen Conroy released the government's roadmap for Australia's participation in the digital economy last night at an event at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney. The report is now available from the government website.

This ZDNet article outlines some of the reactions from Industry at the launch.
iiNet regulatory officer Steve Dalby raised the important point that we need applications that make use of the 100MBPS speeds, not just the speed itself. Brad Howarth expanded on this on his blog. A couple of his points:

• "Enterprise Connect, the digital literacy programs and small business online programs will assist with takeup of the NBN, but there seems to be no cohesive strategy for developing broadband-enabled services themselves.
• "The work needs to be done now to equip businesses and business associations with the skills - and potentially the seed funding - to begin developing next-generation broadband services today, so that they will be ready when the network begins to go live. Failure to do so means that the benefits from the network will not be realised until quite some time later, meaning our investment in infrastructure may be quickly leapfrogged in economies where the focus has been on infrastructure and services, as opposed to just infrastructure."

IBM has ideas in this area, communicated in their Smarter Planet campaign.

I really hope we don't end up with more obtrusive rich online advertising and increased piracy (has the RIAA started lobbying against NBN / putting together a case to sue the Australian Federal Government yet?!!)

Is 100MBPS enough to support human teleportation services? Now that would be cool...

The AFR Broadband Conference

I was invited to attend the AFR Broadband Conference in Sydney last Tuesday on behalf of IBM Australia. The event attracted a variety of interesting speakers.

In short, the situation in Australia:

• Broadband speeds are currently slow in comparison to the US, Europe, Japan, Korea etc. (Average download speed in Australia is 710.6 Kbps, based on 12469 tests from download-speed.org)
• Broadband coverage is patchy. The cities have reasonable coverage, but there are holes (e.g. Balmain in Sydney). Most of the country (geographically speaking) cannot access ADSL2+ broadband. See the map.
• Telstra owns the existing copper wire network. In the cities, there is competition, with companies like iiNet having set up their own. Unsurprisingly, where Telstra is the only provider, prices are much higher (Telstra was privatised and therefore acts in the best interests of its shareholders - not the public, or the country).

The Australian Federal Government recognises that digital information and communication is becoming increasingly important to businesses / the Australian economy, culture and society and that Australia will be significantly disadvantaged if the lack of broadband speed and coverage is not addressed.

The Australian Federal Government has committed to create a National Broadband Network (NBN), which will be the single largest infrastructure project in Australian history. The details are still being ironed out. This is what we know so far:

• The NBN will be a wholesale only fibre network (i.e. not allowing for retail conflict as with Telstra in the past)

• The NBN will deliver 100-1,000MB connection speeds via direct fibre.

• The NBN will connect at least 90% of homes/premises in Australia (actually, the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy indicated during his speech that he was not interested in leaving out any % of the population).

• Wireless networks will be supplementary to the direct fibre NBN.

• The NBN is estimated to take approx 8-10 years to roll out (2017-2019 completion).

• The NBN is expected to have a 50+ year life.

• The NBN will be future proofed. (Professor Douglas Van Houweling said he expects packet info transfers will always be used via Internet Protocol but that the way those connections occur will evolve.)

• The NBN is expected to cost 43 billion AUD (mostly labour cost) and create 25,000 jobs.

The main discussion points at the conference:

1. Is structural reform a necessary precursor to the NBN?

• The consensus was ‘yes’, a regulatory reform package is required to get the structure of the sector right.

• Professor Allan Fels suggested rules governing broadcasting should be reviewed by the Productivity Commission (they performed the 2000 review).

• An agreement must be reached to separate Telstra’s existing assets (their copper wire network will become obsolete with the rollout of NBN). Government may need to compensate Telstra?

• The NBN must be a wholesale network, separate from retail. (This means the retail ISP’s would not be able to differentiate on product. Some are already starting to focus on customer service!)

• Since the NBN project is actually a 40-50yr investment (taking adoption into account) – in order to see the project through to completion, the Labour Government would need to be re-elected three times! Because of this, it would make sense to have laws put in place to protect the build of and investments in the NBN.

2. Where will the 43 billion come from?

• Firstly, the estimate of 43 billion is now considered to be on the high side. Phil Campbell from Citi Investment Research estimated, during the panel discussion that it would cost 30 billion.
  

• The Federal Government recently committed 5 billion (the Hon Senator Stephen Conroy confirmed during his speech that they would foot the whole bill if necessary, though they don't expect to have to do that). Suggestions were: 10 billion vended assets, 20 billion via infrastructure bonds (tax free investment opportunity).

3. What will the NBN mean for the broadband industry in Australia?

• In the next 8-10 years (the gap prior to NBN), steps must be taken to ensure existing broadband services continue to expand and competition continues in order to keep prices down.

• Once NBN is in place, the ISP’s will need to differentiate based on service (as the product will be ubiquitous). This is the situation in Korea, where the broadband network is a wholesale monopoly with the retailers playing on top of it.

4. How will the NBN change things for business, society and the country?

Rohan Lund from Yahoo!7 spoke about the media revolution we’re already seeing as audiences use the internet to communicate, discover and be entertained. He outlined how Australians have adapted their internet behaviour to the speed currently available:

• Yahoo!7 (which aims to be a guide to content on the internet) holds proportionately less market share to Google in Australia than in other countries. Google’s cleaner, faster search experience has been embraced by 90% of the Australian market.

• Video is consumed, but in low quality, bite sized chunks.

• The lighter social networking sites are most popular.

Clearly the NBN would be a good thing for Rohan and Yahoo!7 !

Abigail Thomas from the ABC talked about some of the innovative projects she’s undertaking. ABC iView (internet television) is, I gather, currently only feasible due to agreements with several ISP’s whereby the content download charges are not ‘metered’ for their customers.

Projects being undertaken overseas, such as digital health record systems (England, Denmark, Chicago), or traffic management systems (Stockholm, London), are reliant upon the creation of the NBN. See my earlier post ‘"Towards a smarter economy" with a National Broadband Network’.

Professor Douglas Van Houweling (in the US) joked via phone hook-up (after his video speech had been played) that it was a shame he couldn’t yet see us – his audience – via real-time video hook-up. Real-time video upload will be possible with the NBN.

Related points:

• Professor Douglas Van Houweling said the rest of world will be watching as Australia rolls out the NBN and becomes a leader in this area. He suggested the US needs to think about ensuring 100MB connectivity within 3 years, with at least 10MB upload speeds. (It’s important to remember users will contribute, not just consume. Example is medical centres uploading x-rays.) This point re. upload capacity will hopefully be considered for the Australian NBN.
• NBN will ‘float the boats’ in that many internet based applications that will be created by the business community and government will be reliant / sit upon it.
• Korea currently has the broadband speeds in the world and is investing 24 billion to increase to 1GIG connectivity by 2012!

Videos of some speeches from the conference:

• Marianne King, first assistant secretary for Department of Broadband Communications and the Digital Economy.
• "Pipe Network's Bevan Slattery, Nextgen's Malcolm Roe, Ericsson's Tony Malligeorgos and TransACT's Gordon Dunsford discuss what the federal government's national broadband network will actually deliver". (Source: misaustralia.com)
• The Hon Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy.

For more info, check out 'The Scoop' by Mark Jones.

Mobile phone recycling

Following my mobile's disastrous adventure in the washing machine, I found my blog post from Dec 2007 and followed my own advice. The pre-paid postbag arrived from the Spastic Centre within 10 days and my (very clean) mobile is now off to be reincarnated in developing countries.

One blog post gets more response than 24 returned letters

I'm very pleased to report that I have been contacted by some very nice people at Vodafone and the matter of the mail has been resolved.

It seems (in this instance anyway) that one blog post got more response than 24 returned letters.

"Towards a smarter economy" with a National Broadband Network

Glen Boreham addressed the National Press Club last month. His speech 'Towards a smarter economy' described how sensors in the form of transistors and computer chips (that are already built into most aspects of our lives*), combined with a high-speed, high coverage broadband connection (i.e. the National Broadband Network) could report information that would allow us - individuals, corporations and government - to make smarter decisions. 

Synopsis of Glen Boreham's speech from ibm.com/au:

"When people have more information, they make smarter decisions.

In Germany, 6 million households are reducing their electricity bills, because an intelligent energy grid gives them enough information to do so. In Sweden, an intelligent road system gives Stockholm’s commuters enough information to reduce traffic congestion by 25% and carbon emissions by 40%.

If Australians had more information about the impact of their decisions – on their pocket, on the environment, on their quality of life, on GDP – they would act very differently.

Glen Boreham contends that – as we invest billions in building infrastructure through the stimulus package – Australia has a unique opportunity to embed intelligence into every road, building, city and utility grid. In his view, the information this would generate would empower our citizens, businesses and governments to get behind the issues that affect us all.

Mr Boreham looks to a future where the sum of millions of smarter decisions help us to use less energy, make far more efficient use of our water resources, unclog our congested cities and boost our GDP – creating a smarter, sustainable economy."

You can download Glen Boreham's full speech here. I thought it was visionary. What do you think?

I attended the AFR Broadband Conference yesterday, during which the National Broadband Network (NBN) was discussed. If we don't get the NFN, I fear Australia will suffer greatly. Glen Boreham's vision, for one, is dependent upon the NBN.

*Interesting snippet: The new Mercedes contains as many control units as the new Airbus A380. That's just a car. The same thing is happening in almost every commercial sector.

The house that tweets

IBMer Andy Stanford-Clark will be on BBC News tonight talking about how he set up his 16th century cottage on the Isle of Wight to tweet.

Andy is an innovator - creating solutions that are likely to be adopted for monitoring business processes, factories, healthcare systems etc moving forward.

Watch the video on BBC.