Monday, February 29, 2016

Low Power WiFi from University of Washington (UW)


Without WiFi, you cannot imagine your life at home and in public space anymore.  On Jan. 19, I talked about LiFi (LED fast wireless communication) technology.  It is the technology that its transfer rate speed will be 100 times faster than WiFi but it will not be a mobile solution.

For the mobile solution, its power consumption is the key to challenge and UW announced 10000 Times Lower Power WiFi.


Sunday, February 28, 2016

Seattle in blooming - Amazon HQ building

Amazon HQ office building
I have been seeing the traffic in Puget Sound area has been so busy last few years.  A lot of business offices constructions are still on going at downtown Seattle.

The north of Seattle downtown between Westin Hotel and Lake Union has been changing a lot. 
We will hear more new business innovation from Seattle area coming years more and more.


We may find more buildings in this area in the near future.  This is in front of Whole Foods.
Not only office buildings, there are many residential buildings are under constructions.

Monday, February 22, 2016

Amazon Books


Seattle is the heart of cloud computing business development.   One of the worldwide leaders is Amazon.  Amazon opened their book store and this is the one at  U Village near University of Washington (UW).

 They display the top-selling books for each age of kids from 1 through 5 years old per week

 This is one of robotics examples.  No person at a desk counter.

 Introducing the best selling through Amazon.com

Of course, not only books, they promote to sell fireTV and etc.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

City Farming (LED Agriculture) - Microsoft HQ Campus

There is no doubt any industry and business will be no longer improved into the new solution without Information Technology (IT).  Especially, the traditional old economies have a lot of possibilities to challenge.
One of them is a city farming which you can grow vegetables in a building with LED lights.  Here at Microsoft HQ, they are farming some vegetables at their cafeterias and use these vegetables to serve the food.
There will be a discussion about the balance with the nature.  We need to keep our eyes open how this business segment will be improved.




Tuesday, February 16, 2016

古川享が伝えたかったこと・・・


秘史というタイトルよりも、サブタイトルになっている「僕が伝えたかったこと」がしっくりくる内容の物語。

若い人々にもお勧めなのた当然ですが、我々の世代も今一度読んで、どうして育ててもらったかの恩送りの大切さを噛み締める一冊ではないかと思います。

80年代半ばから後半にかけて、日本がバブル景気に沸いていた頃、私は単身テキサス州フォートワースのTandy/Radio Shack本社の買付部門A&A Internationalに転勤で3年間、一度も日本に帰ることもなく牛を観て過ごしていました(笑)そして、帰国後1年目でDELLの極東オフィス立ち上げに飛び込んだのが結婚した翌年の28歳。バブルに浮かれる機会もなく、バブル後の低迷期に落ち込む暇もなく好き勝手に動き回った20−30代でした。そういう機会を与えてもらえたことには、とても感謝しています。

バブル期の20−30代は、働き盛り(30−40代)にバブルが弾け、それまでとは180度違った窮屈な仕事の環境下に置かれたのではないでしょうか? その世代が今50−60代のトップマネジメント。果たして守りでなく、攻めの経営ができる人がどれだけいるか? 社長業と経営者は違うと思います。

この秘史に出てくるように自分たちが20−30代の時に、好きなように暴れさせてくれた上司のような懐の深い大人になれているか自省の切欠も楽しく読みながらもその機会をあたえてくれる一冊だと思います。

懐かしい人々のお名前や知らなかった秘話。そして、懐かしい製品の数々(新卒で携わったTandy Model 100始め、個人的にはCanon NAVIに強烈な印象が残っています。なぜ売れないと当時コメントされたのか。その背景を今度古川さんに直接聞いてみたいところですが)

経営者から若手の皆さんともに手にとってみては如何でしょうか?
そして、エピソード2、3と連載になることを楽しみにしている一人ですが、それが早まるように皆さんで買って、出版社の腰も軽くしましょうか・・・



Saturday, February 6, 2016

Amazon Dash and Echo shows IoT services and a lot of jobs will be replaced by IoT/robotics


IoT (Internet of Thing) is not the technology but the services. I see that Amazon is one of good examples with its Dash and Echo. Amazon announced to support Uber with Echo to make you order Uber ride. (ref. GeekWire)

The old economy is the segment which we can see to improve and grow more with IoT but we should also be aware that the old system will be also replaced with this IoT.

This is a kind of robotics which a lot of jobs will be replaced by machines/software. The young generation should seriously consider what you want to do and what you can do when you choose a job. However, you should also feel free to change a job with this kind of trend and movement.