To send or not from your iPad?

How many times have we seen in mails received from our friends where, at the end of the mail, you see ‘Sent From My IPad’? No, I am not waiting for your answer – there are ‘n’ number of times you have seen it. But, is the iPad the right tool for sending/receiving mails? I dont think so, after my experience (of 2 weeks).

It is not that I am against the iPad – the fact is that I am overwhelmed by the experience of working playing with the iPad. And, I don’t feel that one should spoil their experience by working on enterprise application (even if it is just an email). The iPad is to be used for the number of ‘apps’ that are available on iTunes – kids in your home will love it so much that it will addict them. Non-technical folks at home like your grandmother will love the simple and intuitive interface of the iPad. This can do many other tasks also but for that, you might as well use your good ol’ laptop.

The iPad is truly a ‘Blue Ocean‘ from the wonder-world of Apple. It is not in direct competition with the laptops or net-books of the world – it is in a league of its own, though organizations are running around creating their own version. Motorola, Samsung, DELL, NotionInk, Olive and a lot more options are available in the market today but it is doubtful if they know what they are doing. The iPad has taken an early start in this arena which means that the competition has a lot of catching up to do. Microsoft would have been ideally placed to capture this market but they are not yet prepared. Will they make up for the lost time? Does not look likely.

Well, what next from Apple? Obviously, there are many areas of improvement in the current experience – the camera can be much better, to start with. There will be multiple versions that will be released in the next 2 years before another ground-breaking invention from Apple.

What next from Apple? This is my understanding of the thinking that has gone so far:

Apple likes to target the senses of its consumers – sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. They started targeting the ‘hearing’ sense by creating the iPod. ‘Touch’ (and ‘Voice’) was targeted by iPhone. Next came the ‘sight’ and ‘touch’ by the iPad. The remaining are ‘taste’ and ‘smell’ – what will they create next? Steve Jobs might have the answer already.

No – I did not create this post on my iPad 🙂

Related articles

• Bentley demos 100,000 euro Executive dual-iPad interior for Mulsanne, we take a seat (video) (engadget.com)
• Sony releases its first iPad dock (tuaw.com)

Using Tools to help employees Innovate

To enable employees start thinking about what they are good at, any organization should enable the leaders with various tools and technologies. These should be deployed as a continuous process within the organization, not just a one-time exercise.

The first tool that needs to be institutionalized is one that gives information about all projects that are initiated by the organization. This will be web-based Project Management software, accessible on the intranet to all. Employees will have visibility on the new projects and have the option to express their interest to work on the program. Each project will have an initial Ramp-up Period by when the employees are expected to express their interest. Once the period closes, the Manager designated for the Project will take a decision on his team members. Projects can be initiated by employees also – not only the Managers. Like Google’s policy, employees should be given the option to utilize 20% of their time (roughly one day a week) for these individual projects. A designated Sponsor will approve the project
for further progress, based on the alignment with organization’s core values of entrepreneurship, solidarity and responsibility. This tool will help the employees know about the ongoing projects and participate in those that interest them.

The next tool ideally will be an internal Idea Junction. All employees will have the ability to write ideas on how the organization or they will benefit from. These ideas will have the visibility all the way to Senior Management. Other employees can comment/vote on these ideas so that the Management can select the best idea of the month and implement it. This gives the employees a sense of ownership within the organization. Another tool that can be implemented within the organization is that of a Knowledge-Base. Employees can ask questions and answer them, related to various topics. This tool will help those who are experts in their designated areas explain issues/queries to those who are still learning. Along the process, the tool will very soon become a hub of knowledge.

One can search through the tool and retrieve valuable information across diverse areas. Levels can be assigned to employees based on their answers or comments. Thus, they will transition from Amateurs to Knowledgeable to Experts based on their participation. This will give an added fillip to their standing within the organization and makes everyone aware of the skills that are available. This tool will help the organization on how they can make these available skills visible in the organization. It is quite surprising to look at the results when one reaps the benefits of such a tool implemented well.

There are a number of Open Source Software available on the Internet that can be utilized for these. One can easily install it with little effort and configure/customize to use it internally, reducing the associated costs to the minimum.

Related articles

• Chris Curtin: Bringing Innovation to Bear in Employee Engagement (huffingtonpost.com)
• Jama Brings Enterprise 2.0 Collaboration to Product Requirements Management (theappgap.com)

Google and eBay in the news

Google Chrome OS was released – seems to be a good strategy adopted by the Google folks. This OS is aimed at low-cost netbooks – most of them were anyway using Linux. All applications are designed to run in a web browser and the user’s data is stored on Google’s servers – this has been Google’s promise for a long time that in the future, everything will run on the internet. This model is just an extension of the vision. The first computers running the system would be available before the end of 2010 – that is another 1 year down the line. What will happen to the netbooks market by then? Interesting to watch.

eBay completes its acquisition of Skype for $2.75 Billion – will be interesting to see how the strategy is built after the formalities are completed. There is no overlap between the two companies. I guess the buyout is good for Skype to further expand its portfolio of services it offers to customers.

A very good use of iPhone for healthcare application – this is what technology must do – helps an eye hospital to provide faster diagnostics and recommendations to patients.

Twitter, Google and more

Twitter is rolling out location-based trends – that seems like a good idea to know where which trends are making news. Location seems to be the favorite for all technology companies.

Twitter and LinkedIn will be integrated now – that is good news. But, if I tweet about technology, business, sports and movies, I wouldn’t want all of it to appear on LinkedIn. How will this integration handle it? Let me try it out.

Lot of news being seen on Google – acquisitions, initiatives and pushbacks.

Yet another acquisition by Google, the third biggest after DoubleClick ($3.1 billion) and YouTube ($1.65 billion) – the company is gunning hard to dominate mobile Web advertising and AdMob has an early foothold in the display side. Will AdMob be as successful as the other acquisitions? Time will tell. Check out the site created by Google.

Google also bought Gizmo5 for around $30 million in cash. Apparently, the talk is Gizmo5 will be the glue that puts Google Voice and Google Talk together into a single product (competition for Skype).

Not so good news for Google – Rupert Murdoch is not happy with Google search indexes – he wants to block Google from his news content. News Corp owns the Times and Sun newspapers in the UK and the New York Post and Wall Street Journal in the US.

Google is planning to foot the bill for WiFi at 47 of US  airports for the rest of the year, beginning today.

Personalization and customization is the key here – Mojamix is an online granola manufacturing system. What is so great about it? This – You select your base, then add dried fruit, seeds, and nuts. They package up your foodstuff and send it to your home via first class mail. The average 12-ounce bag costs about $12 and there is the possibility of adding chocolate-covered cashews to the mix. What is next? You can cook your dish online very soon!!!

Did you buy a new Nokia phone? Check whether it’s the model whose charger is being recalled.

Intel introduces a book reader that reads out aloud to the blind – interesting application for the not-so-lucky readers. Good gesture by Intel.

A 21-year-old Australian man has admitted creating what is thought to be the first virus to infect Apple iPhones. Wow!!! This is one that Android will not have, probably, as it is based on Linux.

UK Home Office says it will push ahead with plans to ask communications firms to monitor all internet use. With all the concerns that Networking Engineers in organizations have anyeay, God help all firms in the UK!!!

Are you addicted to the internet? Take this test and find out.