not yet nine o'clock news

I belong to generation X which means that I still like to watch news on tv and also lately I have gotten the habit of reading the morning paper, in the morning. Those are the remains of two older generations of communication. The youngest one, web still searches its dominant design. Or maybe it has been chosen already, we are just too close to see it.

One big difference between the first two and the web is the finate and limited scope in the first two. The news on tv take that 10-15mins and after that you know everything worth knowing or at least you have that sense of control. In a similar way reading the morning paper takes that 15-45mins forming a kind of ritual with that cup of coffee.

I have found browsing web news different, or maybe it's just me. I haven't found the right habit of browsing web with morning coffee. It's too activating and serendipitous.

orienteering in business

I'll translate this old text I wrote in 2007 in Finnish.

Think about orienteering competition where some of the participants would be in the forest without a map and compass. And also some of the control points would change their location every once and a while. Thinking in strategy terms, the map is the roadmap comprising the knowledge on the present and future situation. The compass is the strategy which doesn't necessarily take you to the goal but gives you an stable direction to lean to.

An experienced orienteer reads the map while running but not from the point he or she is at the moment but in order to create a picture of the scenery behind the next turn. And as the journey progresses, verifies that picture by making observations of the details of the scenery.
In an easy terrain you can put the point of reference or goal far away, in a difficult terrain you have to take smaller steps.
An orienteer can't also run straight to the goal, but one has to find all the control points.

What if you get lost? Of course you can start following another orienteer but he can be as messed up as you or just heading to a wrong control point.

Entrepreneurship compared to orienteering is funny in a way that you can set the locations of the control points by yourself and also draw the map and calibrate the compass. The goal is still the same for all: profitable business.

enron

went to see the play "Enron" written by Lucy Prebble and performed by Helsingin kaupunginteatteri.
a classic story about greed and money and "don't tell, don't ask"-principle in corporate finance. especially amusing (or scary) was a scene where board of directors, lawyers and finance assured themselves that the dubious financial trick is ok although there was nothing good in it. shared responsibility equals no responsibility.

digital assistant

just what I tried to describe in hidden views, Anssi Vanjoki is mentioning in his technological testament when now quiting from Nokia.

http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Vanjoen+teknotestamentti/3668/
(in Finnish sorry)

specifically the point number six: our digital twins or assistants take care and automate dull errands like paying bills or route planning.

also interestingly at the same it was announced that RIM acquired the Swedish TAT with lots of interesting ideas about user interfaces, also augmented reality stuff.

hidden views

very nice examples of augmented reality in mobile apps,

http://www.augmentedrealblog.com/?p=63

especially hidden views rings bells, chimes with my wish to be able to peek around the corner or to the other side of the building.

one point I would like to add to the list in the above link, would be a metadata assistant. Like a personal secretary or assistant sitting on your shoulder and whispering to your ear:
-you met this person 2 years ago, his name is xx. He is interested in ...
-this place is rated "risky"by passers-by during last 10mins
-the car behind you has been tagged "road-rage" by 31 persons
-you should take this longer route it has less congestion

We have got so accustomed to googling whatever information we need that it's easy to imagine that tendency to drive also augmented reality. Where you can guide the googling by pointing or watching or just being in the right place. Context is everything. As well as location.

insanity

insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different result. - A.Einstein

so I'm by definition insane because my daily work is basically to look for anomalies and things that usually work but then sometimes fail.
And what a pleasure it is when you find something irregular after tons of white noise in your problem-o-meter. and just a second later you think - where the #¤% I put my nose again.
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playing: jamiroquai - virtual insanity
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also the "different result" is not so obvious unless you are counting apples.
uncertainty in study or measurement is obviously a hard term to comprehend. So frequent are the situations where people use different kind of measurement results and facts without thinking the uncertainty or confidence interval associated to them.

-election polls: party xx is up 0.7% and beat party yy
-doctor: if your lab result is 1.7 you're fine, if it's 1.8, you're gonna die.
-scientist: eating ice-cream increases death by drowning in the summer time
-weather prediction: Helsinki tomorrow +5C

and another thing. when developing new stuff you keep hearing, " we tried that 1992, didn't work". sometimes finding new stuff requires banging your head to the same experiments again and again? well somewtimes it's wise to take a short break and wait for the world to catch up you.

alignment and forestry

been studying forestry lately, one thing I learned is that a forest at particular location roughly grows the same amount (biomass m3/year) regardless of the forestry actions performed by the forest owner. maybe this is an oversimplification but all the thinning and "grooming" and selecting the right wood doesn't significantly add biomass growth. but it aligns the growth into direction the owner wants. Making room for the wanted wood species and thus increasing profits.

hmm, is there some similarity to your average workplace? all those busy bees minding their own businesses and running errands based on volume control (who shouts loudest). sometimes looks like bees without any particular reason or direction. they all find something useful and fun to do. but maybe someone sees the forest for the trees.