Todd Bishop on Thursday, September 23, 2010, 11:17am PD
Microsoft, Google and other tech companies won a key victory in Washington, D.C., today as the Federal Communications Commission moved to open up vacant spectrum between television channels for unlicensed use by wireless devices — a development expected to lead to a powerful new form of wireless Internet access.
Phi Beta Iota: This is the beginning of the end of any telecommunications business that does not realize that it is in the business of software, services, and sense-making. Burning Man this year demonstrated that OpenBTS and related open technologies are ready for prime time. Below is our newest graphic (click to see full size).
I’m normally an optimistic kind of guy. Each month when I receive Harvard Business Review, I open it up thinking that maybe, just maybe, there’s been a change of heart. Maybe they have moved on from 1965. Not much to ask, after all. I become even more optimistic when I read the headline like this month, “Get the Best From Your People”. This, I think, is certainly timely, given the studies that show that only one in five people are fully engaged in their work.
But then I go to the article to which the headline refers. As I read it, I have a growing feeling of horror. There has been no change of heart. There is no heart at all. We are right back in the world of manipulating people with numbers. In fact, we are no longer in 1965. We have regressed back to 1911. We are now in the world of Frederick Winslow Taylor. Read More…
Phi Beta Iota: The dehumanization of the enterprise will be recognized by history to have been one of the most costly failures of leadership and errors of management in all time. We strongly recommend the author's new book, which can be bought now on Kindle or advance ordered in hard-copy at Amazon.
Instead of personal income tax, corporate income tax, state tax, fuel tax, capital gains tax, gift tax. estate tax, excise tax, sales tax
One very low universal tax Automatically and Immediately Collected
No Tax Returns, No Lobbying for Special Interests, No Special Deductions
Is it possible to have a system of taxation which is simple, efficient, progressive, and revenue neutral replacing all those taxes listed above? As it turns out, Yes.
If you sell at the top of the market (luxury travel, services to Fortune 500 companies, financial services for the wealthy…) you might be tempted to figure out ways to cut costs and become more efficient.
After all, if you save a dollar, you make a dollar, without even getting a new customer.
Resist.
The goal shouldn't be to reduce costs. It should be to increase them.
That voice mail service that saves you $30,000 a year in receptionist costs–it also makes you much more similar to a competitor that is more efficiently serving the middle of the market.
Go through all the ways you serve your customers and make them more expensive to execute, not less. Your loyalty and your market share will both grow. People who can afford to pay for service often choose to pay for service.
Phi Beta Iota: What Master Seth is not making explicit is that HUMANS costs more than devices, and the REASON humans cost most is because at the high end, HUMANS offer creative adaptability, instant understanding of nuances, emotional calibration, and a deeply HUMAN connection to the client. Call centers are the high end of the low end. Capitalism took a wrong turn in commoditizing humans and treating labor costs as something to be reduced. It is the human web of knowledge that undergirds the advance of civilization, NOT the “things” that we buy and trash.
Kyrgyzstan- Shanghai Cooperation Organization: Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member states will help Kyrgyzstan stabilize the situation in the country's southern region, a source in the Russian Federal Security Service said 23 September after a regional SCO anti-terrorism council meeting, Interfax reported.
The council decided that law-enforcement agencies of member states will assist Kyrgyzstan maintain security by organizing information exchanges regarding regional militant activities, the source said. The source also said the council elected Chinese Deputy Minister for Public Security Meng Hongwei to chair the anti-terrorism council for one year. The council is set to meet next in Usbekistan in March 2011. Representatives from Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan attended the meeting.
NIGHTWATCH Comment: The Moscow-centered Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) declined to undertake a more intrusive intervention mission. The Beijing-led SCO mission is primarily an intelligence exchange, but potentially affords China unprecedented access to information about central Asian security issues. The SCO will accrue positive publicity for its limited mission, upstaging the CSTO.
The Chinese-led organization looks cooperative. The Russian-led organization looks timid. This in fact confuses different missions and burdens, but the public perception is likely to favor the Chinese-led initiative in the Russian sphere of influence.
Kyrgyzstan-Russia: Issues between Russia and Kyrgyzstan over Russia's military bases in Kyrgyzstan have been addressed and an agreement will be signed, probably on the 24
NIGHTWATCH Comment: The Russians have four military facilities or bases in Kyrgyzstan, including Kant air base. Under the new agreement they will be consolidated in a single command structure and all will be governed by the new agreement, instead of four separate agreements. Russia's lease will probably be good for the next four or five decades.
Phi Beta Iota:Reference: Global Governance 2025 completely missed both the Hybrid and the Open models of governance that are displacing institutionalized ineptitude now characteristic of most governments, all unable to micro-manage complexity or achieve resilience. The above report suggests that Kyryzstan could be an early node where multinational information-sharing and sense-making is more influential, more effective, and more profitable, than standing military bases, but the two can co-exist. See also Worth a Look: Future of Business is Information Sharing. To appreciate such nuances one needs a strategic analytic modeland the inclination to actually understand the eight tribes of intelligence, “true costs,” and all other aspect of holistic reality.
We are excited to announce that the first episode of the Geospatial Revolution Project is now available. And, all we can say is that it is absolutely awesome. Geospatial technologies are truly revolutionary, and this episode reminds us that what we do as GIS/GEOINT professionals has (and will continue to) changed the world. In case you are not familiar with the Geospatial Revolution Project it is an integrated public media and outreach initiative about the world of digital mapping and how it is changing the way we think, behave, and interact created by Penn State Public Broadcasting. Check out our exclusive podcast with Stephanie Ayanian, senior producer, who shares her insights about this special project. And, of course, we are featuring Episode 1 in this post. Be sure to check it out!
