Wakeup Call: Companies Need to Master the Art of Global Innovation; Governments, too. By Bernard Meyerson IBM Fellow and Vice President, Innovation A newly-released tally of US patent awards in 2011 could shock many people. Last year, only two US-based companies finished in the top 10—IBM at No. 1 and Microsoft at No. 6. Hewlett-Packard and Intel fell off the list. Eight of the companies in the top 10 now are headquartered in Asia. What’s really going on is more nuanced but just as worthy of attention. But the globalization of innovation also poses huge challenges. How important is dealing with the globalization of innovation? IBM has long been a pioneer of global innovation. Here’s our formula for creating such an ecosystem: Tap into global talent pools: Companies need to hire the most creative people they can find, and, increasingly, that means hiring globally. Collaborate across borders: IBM develops solutions to the world’s problems by teaming with other companies and with government agencies.
Urban Information Networks, Part 3: Open Data 2.0 By Colin Harrison IBM Distinguished Engineer This is the third of three posts that explore the concept of urban information networks, that is, the flows of information in cities about what is going on. I am not thinking here of social networks, which deal with personal information, but rather of information concerning the how the city is working, both in the supply and the demand for services. You are no doubt familiar with the Open Data movement, which is growing rapidly in popularity. The US Obama administration was an early advocate for the Open Data approach to transparency in government and the US Open Data site offers almost 400,000 data sets and more than a thousand Apps. But an equally valuable step will come when cities begin to expose their operational information in near real-time by allowing it to be federated into private services.
Visual thinking: cuando una imagen vale lo mismo que mil palabras ¿Cómo se aplica el método? “El futuro de la solución de problemas empresariales utilizando nuestra habilidad innata de ver (con nuestros dos ojos y el ojo de la mente) nos permite nuevas formas de descubrir ideas hasta entonces escondidas, desarrollarlas de forma intuitiva y después compartirlas con otra gente de una forma sencilla”. Así define la técnica Dan Roam, fundador y presidente de Digital Roam, consultora que ayuda a los ejecutivos a resolver problemas a través del pensamiento visual y autor del libro The back of the napkin. El libro de Dan Roam, traducido al español como Tu mundo en una servilleta (Gestión 2000) es el manual que explica paso por paso las virtudes de este método y la forma en que se emplea. Pero, ¿cómo empezar? Uno de los capítulos del libro recomienda seguir diez pasos y medio para una sesión de Visual Thinking. Una vez elaborados los bocetos, Roam insta a buscarles un significado más profundo y a debatirlo. Foto © janika – Fotolia.com
"Vuestros abuelos están más preparados que vosotros para crear un negocio en los próximos diez años” Ficod. Gary Vaynerchuck explica que quienes triunfarán en la nueva economía de las redes sociales serán los mismos que tienen éxito en un cóctel. Cuando Gary Vaynerchuck tenía cinco años, montó su primer emporio empresarial. En 1997, convirtió la pequeña tienda de su padre en una firma de vino online, haciendo ecommerce cuando aún todo el mundo tenía miedo a introducir su tarjeta de crédito en la red. Vaynerchuck, teórico de la economía del muchas gracias, vino a Madrid para explicarles a los empresarios que internet ha cambiado las reglas del juego y que no asumirlo y empezar a pensar para esa nueva realidad no es más que una invitación al fracaso. “Los negocios no se preocupan” por sus usuarios, un pensamiento que hipoteca el largo plazo. Internet ha cambiado la forma de comunicarse. “La manera en la que hablamos unos con otros está cambiando”, señaló. “La razón para estar en los social media es escuchar y responder”, aseguró.
"En Finlandia exigimos más a quien quiere ser docente" Prestigio Los estudiantes finlandeses son los mejores de Europa en la evaluación PISA de la OCDE. Sus profesores, sin embargo, no están mejor pagados ni sus escuelas mejor dotadas. El profesor Riiho aventura una explicación: los finlandeses no hacen política con su educación –pública y gratuita– y exigen más titulación, idiomas y especialización que nosotros a los aspirantes a la docencia. Por qué la educación finlandesa es la mejor de Europa? Otra muestra de que nuestra democracia se ha degradado en partitocracia.Pues debería haber instituciones más allá de los partidos: consensuadas por todos y gestionadas por una sociedad civil activa, diversa y plural. Ya me contará cómo lo consiguen en Finlandia.Lo primero que necesita un buen profesor es que los políticos le dejen trabajar... Un buen profesor y todo el mundo.... ¿Con generosidad? Supongo que los finlandeses pagan mejor que nosotros a sus profesores.No es así. Entonces no es cuestión de sueldo.No, señor. ¿Usted habla sueco también?
CloudFlare Builds ‘Stop Censorship’ App, Lets Sites Easily “Black Out” Against SOPA Whatever position you may take on SOPA, or on whether or not sites should black out against SOPA (Yes it has come to this), the issue has reached a boiling point today with sites like Wikipedia and Reddit pledging to blackout on Wednesday in order to further raise awareness of the measure’s pitfalls. Because SOPA and PIPA threaten the existence of sites that link to copyright infringing content (like Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook and every other site on the Internet) the bills — which are currently stalled in Congress — have sparked a massive online backlash. In addition to Reddit, Wikipedia and Icanhazcheezburger, Web security startup and TechCrunch Disrupt runner up CloudFlare has thrown its large hat into the anti-SOPA ring, with the “CloudFlare Stop Censorship” app — which essentially solves investor Fred Wilson’s problem of not knowing exactly how to black out.
Steganography Revealed Over the past couple of years, steganography has been the source of a lot of discussion, particularly as it was suspected that terrorists connected with the September 11 attacks might have used it for covert communications. While no such connection has been proven, the concern points out the effectiveness of steganography as a means of obscuring data. Indeed, along with encryption, steganography is one of the fundamental ways by which data can be kept confidential. This article will offer a brief introductory discussion of steganography: what it is, how it can be used, and the true implications it can have on information security. What is Steganography? While we are discussing it in terms of computer security, steganography is really nothing new, as it has been around since the times of ancient Rome. What is Steganography Used for? Like many security tools, steganography can be used for a variety of reasons, some good, some not so good. Steganography Tools How Do Steganography Tools Work?
Unix wars Unix genealogy tree The Unix wars were the struggles between vendors of the Unix computer operating system in the late 1980s and early 1990s to set the standard for Unix thenceforth. Origins[edit] In the mid-1980s, the two common versions of Unix were BSD, from the University of California, Berkeley, and System V, from AT&T Corporation. X/Open caught AT&T's attention. While this decision was applauded by customers and the trade press, certain other Unix licensees feared Sun would be unduly advantaged. Standardization[edit] In March 1993 the major participants in UI and OSF formed the Common Open Software Environment (COSE) alliance, effectively marking the end of the most significant era of the Unix wars. In 1996, X/Open and the new OSF merged to form the Open Group. Since then, occasional bursts of Unix factionalism have broken out, such as the HP/SCO "3DA" alliance in 1995, and Project Monterey in 1998, a teaming of IBM, SCO, Sequent and Intel which was followed by litigation (SCO v.