Remote eyes (2)

in harrypotter, there is an invention by innovative Weasley brothers, called extendable ears. On the same lines, how about extendable eyes, or maybe remote eyes would be a better term. There come situations where you would like to know or actually see, how many people there on the town square, how much the product costs in another store, or whether there is an empty parking slot just around the corner.

At that instant you could summon people who see what you would like to see, via cameraphone etc.
What you need is a mobile app where you could order a location based photo, live. Photo is taken by a passer-by, not familiar to you. Of course there is the question of payment. Someone could do it for free, some other would require some kind of reward.

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first published 2007 (still I'm not aware of a service of this kind)
http://mielikuva.blogspot.com/2007/12/etsilmt.html

Updating prices (2)

when it seems 95% of my alleged readers are non-Finns, I think I translate some of my older ramblings written in Finnish only. I'll start from 2007.
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wasn't it nice when visiting a shop just before closing time, no trace of the rush and frenzy. what brought to mind, wouldn't it be possible for shops to alter their pricing according to time of the day? That could even out the traffic a bit, if all prices were a couple of percent higher during rush hour.

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first published:
http://mielikuva.blogspot.com/2007/12/pivittyvt-hinnat.html

Second hand

Flea markets rule. Not for buying but selling (in my mind). I have found my niche in those. They combine my greed for money and urge to organize home in 5S-spirit. The rationale is - if you haven't needed something for 2 years what's the probability you need it at all and what is the cost the storage space it take? Of course memorabilia items are not counted. To my mind it's wiser to sell the stuff with minimum loss and then buy them back later IF needed (probably not). Also I noticed that most of the stuff we sell is not the quality stuff, but the low end which we have replaced with something more valuable or of high quality. You shouldn't save in the wrong place.
Again the old saying, poor can't afford to buy cheap.
Flea markets are also delightful places to meet colorful people. Haggling is not my trade, actually i'm awful in it, giving in all the faults in the sellable items. But I'm learning to set my words and products right. And it's delightful to notice that some item finds a new home and that receiver actually joys to have it.

Inertia in traffic

In Helsinki there happened  a regrettable incident a couple days ago, an elderly lady was killed in a traffic accident, was hit by a lorry on a pedestrian crossing. This got me thinking, because I know the place and there's an excellent visibility and the speed limit is 40km/h. Of course now it's winter but still the weather condition was  at the time "a normal winter  weather". That of course causes major problems for many Finns, don't know is it the global warming or what makes makes them so unprepared for this meteorological phenomenon happening every year, rather predictably.
Not knowing the actual facts of the accident I made a wild guess what happened. This guess was based on my own observations and experience as a driver and pedestrian.
Car drivers are big fans of inertia. They assume that everything continues as it has happened so far.*) Pedestrian continues crossing the street at a constant speed, so there is no need for me to lower my speed since our trajectories don't cross. She can get out of the way before I hit the crossing.

But then something unexpected happens, elderly lady slips and falls down. Now what? A black swan, in local scale..

For many non-Finns this whole episode sounds unbelievable, we have a lot to learn. Still, things could be worse.


*)how else can you explain 10m safety distance to the car in front of you when driving 80km/h? In my safety distance slot, there are 1-2 cars with "better than average" drivers on the adjoining lane.

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playing: Gheorghe Zamfir - The Lonely Shepherd

Iconic or ironic

Have you noticed how icons used in mobile phones use ancient metaphors? Why of why does the email icon has an envelope on it? What has it to do with electronic emails? Are we actually so attached to the past that we have to remind us that writing emails actually resembles a lot to writing good ol' letters and thus is not so frightening? Also the idea that functions in an operating system are started using icons is a bit old,eh?

Have to mention a couple of other oddities:

-answer-button: the handset of a phone used maybe in the 1950's

-settings: it has GEARS on it? What are the mobile phones, swiss clocks?

-folders (in an file explorer): manila folders which were used before we started handling information electronically

-youtube (on an iphone): this is my absolute favorite. On a youtube icon in iphone there's a tv (what has television to do with youtube). And best of all, the tv looks like something from a I love lucy. Lame.

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.