Summary of Globalization Goes High-Tech: A Worrisome World of Abundance - mass customization

William E. Halal talks about shared knowledge as abundance in his book Technology’s Promise that will continue to shape the way the world does business. The seven areas he forecasts for this are designed material, mass customization, micromachines, modular homes, nanotechnology, smart robots and smart sensors. I found the mass customization to be of great interest showing the change from mass production as people express distinctiveness. This made me think of shopping with my daughter and her friends recently and realizing that it was not just about having the latest cool clothes or phone but how to make them your own to stand out. This can also be seen with computer sales playing old kids songs to highlight the bright colors they now come in. The computer itself has not really changed but the kids now all want the new blue or pick one because it is an extension of their style. Halal gave a 2010 to 2016 for this and based on what I’ve seen I think he is right on the money.

Robots - repeatable tasks in near future

The following is base on this paper

http://www.cs.cornell.edu/~asaxena/papers/challenges_for_robot_manipulation.pdf

Robots are used in factories for manufacturing products and helping workers by lifting heavy objects. These robots perform repeatable tasks based on algorithms that operate in a controlled environment and do not have to consider unknown variables. Other robots can he operated by humans to again safeguard against the unknown.

The challenges for robots to be able to perform task without human intervention are considerable but with the need growing so are advances in the field. Robots are being made to sense and readjust to objects. This will be very helpful with items like the one’s shown in the picture above but what happens when you dog is around and maybe wants to play with the robot or just gets in its way.

These robot helpers are coming soon and will continue to evolve. However, I think they will most likely have issues with regulatory challenges when it comes to putting them in potentially life and death situations such are home care or the elderly. There have been many movies that are based on robots taking over or becoming dangerous such as iRobot, AI or Terminator. These are based on fears that people have and as the technology advances I believe these fears will become more real causing more road blocks for advancement.

Teen Texting While Driving

Every year more and more car accidents are linked to people that are texting while driving. Many internet sites focus on the growing problem and concerns with how to get the message across and stop this from happening. http://www.textfreedriving.org/ is one of these sites and it provides details such as the states that have already banned texting while driving. 18 states and the District of Columbia now ban text messaging for all drivers. Novice Drivers: 9 states prohibit text messaging by novice drivers. This is because Teenagers make up large part of the total of text related deaths each year. In Tallahassee, Florida Representative Doug Holder is introducing legislation to ban texting while driving and it is believed that many states will follow.
This is a good start but will teens really stop texting when they think they can hide it from the police and not get a ticket? What really will make them stop texting when they probably don’t worry about speeding or wearing a seat belt!
Statement from Teen: I love to text but it should not be done while driving!
With vehicle options now-a-days like OnStar could parents purchase services that would inform them immediately if their child is driving and texting was being done within the vehicle? Could this type of service be available with all vehicles or possibly have a device that will not allow the vehicle to operate if a cell phone is in texting mode without taking peoples rights away? These questions would require an inquiry design team using CATWOE to identify the customers, Actors, Transformation process, is it meaningful, who would be the owner and environmental constraints.
What can we do to keep our teens safe?

Livetime Service Manager

http://www.livetime.com/webservicedesk/ServiceManager.html

This tool can improve a company’s service desk and customer satisfaction. It uses web 2.0 to enable customers to access and use the site regardless of their browser, operating system or location. Furthermore, the tool is built using ITIL standards, ISO/IEC 20000 and best practices. The five core process the tool utilizes is Incident Management, Configuration Management, Problem Management, Change Management, Service Level Management to ensure audit compliance. There processes allow the company to resolve issues and identify root cause to serve the customer and continually improve the processes and service provided. Dashboards and reporting on maps or workflows allow for visual aids that can support strategic discussions.

Community-Based Co-Laboratory of Democracy

The Bryn Gweled Intentional Community utilized the SDP to focus 34 residents on the topic of their community’s future. In one day the group was able to identify 42 intentions and prioritize them to establish the 5 most relevant for their purpose. The SDP enable the group to develop a dialogue instead of ending deadlocked in a debate. The Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) and influence tree structure (tree of meaning) were used as aides to visually depict the intentions and further identifying two of the original 42 intentions as the building blocks for their tree. The group decided that if these two intentions were the focus of improvement that they would establish a foundation to shape the other intentions. Placing those two intentions at the base of the tree and the other intentions according to priority above them they created a tree like structure that allowed them to see the importance of their intentions and the path the needed to be taken to reach the intended goal.

Intel an Energy Company

http://www.cleantech.com/news/3945/nine-clean-technology-predictions-2009 IT turns to the energy opportunity - this prediction is that Intel will become an energy company in the next 10 years. With the current water treatment plant in Israel that will be used for semiconductor production and agriculture it is not a difficult conclusion to come too. Intel is actively becoming involved with cleantech investments.http://www.smartbrief.com/news/cea/industryBW-detail.jsp?id=BC756B6E-3ACD-4ECF-904E-36A34319B333

AccuRev's use of Web 2.0

http://www.accurev.com/press-releases/062508-accurev-web20.html





AccuRev is a SCM tool that can improved process management.

This tool allow developers to access code to perform code reviews while outside of the office. This could be very useful for development teams that are not at the same physical location. For companies that are moving towards virtual teams this could be a tool for consideration.

This tool also has the capability to hook into other third party tools and proved users and managers with complete information to base major decision on regardless of their current locaiton.