Optoelectronics
H.P.’s Hunk of Burning Light – Bits Blog – NYTimes.com – interesting update on optoelectronics in computing. This is an area that has been talked about since I worked in a technology lab at Corning’s old Optical Fibre business in Deeside in the mid-90s. That site is now a greenfield inside the fence of the Toyota engine plant. Optical interconnects still haven’t filled the potential of optoelectronics in computing. Instead while optical processing has been done with optoelectronics in the laboratory; it hasn’t had commercial success yet.
Design
G-Shock prototype phone hides its craggy looks at CES, only fears your stares – Engadget – there is something a bit 1990s sci-fi about this design that I really like
Economics
Reposting the Chinese Premier’s speech at Cambridge Uni « Perspectives – interesting speech by Wen Jiabao – The Chinese Government maintains that countries should: firstand foremost, run their own affairs well and refrain from shifting troubles onto others; second, carry out cooperation with full sincerity and avoid pursuing one’s own interests at the expense of others; and third, address both the symptoms and the root cause of the problem. A palliative approach will not work. We should not treat only the head when the head aches, and the foot when the foot hurts. As I
reiterated at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, necessary reform of the international monetary and financial systems should be carried out to establish a new international financial order that is fair, equitable, inclusive and well-managed. We should createan institutional environment conducive to global economic growth. Let me talk briefly about how China has been responding to the crisis. The fallout of the financial crisis on China’s real economy is
becoming more evident. Since the third quarter of last year, our exports have declined sharply, economic growth has slowed down, and the pressure on employment has been rising. In the face of the grim situation, we have acted decisively. We have made timely adjustment to the direction of our macroeconomic policy, promptly introduced ten measures to expand domestic demand, and formulated a series of related policies.
When Consumers Cut Back – A Lesson From Japan – NYTimes.com – the UK’s bust isn’t likely to go away any time soon
Inconvenient truths about fixing China – FT.com – really interesting analysis of China’s economy (paywall)
Finance
The End of the Financial World as We Know It – NYTimes.com – Michael Lewis of Liar’s Poker fame gives his take on 2008’s financial debacle
Ideas
An interview with William Gibson | The Verge
Luxury
LVMH: daring to ditch the runway circus | FT.com – interesting move
Second-Hand Luxury Market On The Rise In China – Forbes
Hocked Luxury Watches Make The Good Times Roll At Beijing Pawnshops « Jing Daily
Marketing
U.S. military recruiters use video arcades in urban areas – International Herald Tribune – interesting idea, US Army makes recruiting experiential
Media
RIAA Says It Will Stop Suing Consumers for Illegal Downloading – Switched
Online
The Language and Branding of QQ in China – its all about the context, I just knew of QQ as the dominant IM client
Retailing
I, Cringely » Apple, MacWorld and Steve Jobs – the Wal-Mart Connection – interesting analysis
Online shopping and the Harry Potter effect – science-in-society – 22 December 2008 – New Scientist
Fashion gets a digital game-changer | FT.com – Tokyo Girls Collection have been there so much earlier
Security
Interesting privacy hardware homebrew kit
Mega Echelon Option – Cryptome has a very politically skewed but interesting piece alleging that MegaUpload was done in with the help of the intelligence community
Schneier on Security: Privacy in the Age of Persistence
Technology
My MidemNet Presentation: Trent Reznor And The Formula For Future Music Business Models | Techdirt
Is Venture Capital Dying? – some interesting stuff here Paul Kedrosky points out that technology is a mature sector and green tech is way off prime time. This provides a disconnect that will ripple through to investors, markets and subsidiary sectors like technology integrators, resellers
Telecoms
Cisco Plans Big Push Into Server Market – NYTimes.com – this maybe a bridge too far for Cisco, after all what is a router but a couple of line terminators (ADSL, Ethernet, wi-fi, GSM, WCDMA), a server motherboard and a look-up table. Something that IBM, HP or Sun Microsystems could easily throw together and sell at cost just to crush the competition
Wireless
Digital Evangelist: Guess that Six Sigma does not work – Ian Wood writes what could be the best obituary that Motorola’s handset division may ever get.