(2018/03/28) Now you can own a Porsche like you rent it. It's just not cheap. But a smart idea, right? Once you experience that power and speed, you will have a crave.
"Porsche Passport, which provides subscribers with access to Porsche vehicles via a mobile app, is currently only available in Atlanta, home to Porsche's North American operation, as well as Clutch Technologies, the company hosting the app.
The month-to-month subscription gives customers two price options: A flat fee of $2,000 or $3,000. The subscription includes a $500 activation fee and credit check, and covers vehicle tax and registration, insurance, unlimited mileage and maintenance. Smartphone users can download the app and begin using the same day or schedule future rides. "
(5/23/2016) Do you feel it's pretty wasteful to upgrade electronic gadgets sometimes just for "better battery life," "better camera, higher pixels" while most of its functions are fine? Google's Project Ara will try to change it. It's a concept of modular design and allow consumers to 'upgrade' its mobile phone according their individual preferences. If you want a better camera, you buy an high-end camera module; if you want a better audio output, you buy a stereo speakers module (CNET's report). Project Ara is almost the opposite of iPhone's inflexible all-in-one, no-hassle concept.
I believe Project Ara can be a revolutionary game-changer in the mobile phone (maybe all electronic gadget) market. But I really hope Google's Android can have higher integrity in user platform and enhanced security. Without software's integrity, hardware module is just a fad. The video looks very cool, but do you remember the fad of Google Glass?
Watch out, Apple! (However, I still think design integrity in Apple is executed much better than free-spirited Google) The upfront cost for consumers to customized a modular Android phone can be more expensive (it's like the bill of a-la-carte sushi restaurant, always surprising). But in the long run, it may lead to a more eco-friendly, less wasteful market for electronic products and save $$$ for consumers. There will be less total revenue (and profit) for smartphone manufacturers like Samsung, LG, HTC, ... etc. in the long run if Project Ara is executed right, and they (Samsung, LG, HTC) may eventually be downgraded to "module provider" if lucky.
(5/19/2016) We have seen several pictures showing animal stuck in 6-pack rings. In the future, animals who are stuck with it may be able to rescue itself by chewing the ring. Saltwater Brewery makes the new 6-pack rings from their brewing byproducts (grains) and they are willing to share their innovation with big breweries.
(4/4/2016) Some may be aware that water will be a scarce resource on earth. For some countries (like Ethiopia) in Africa, scarce water has been a reality for centuries. Inspired by Warka tree in Ethiopia, designer Arturo Vittori comes up with a solution -- WarkaWater Tower: "a semi-rigid exoskeleton built by tying stalks of juncus or bamboo together and an internal plastic mesh, reminiscent of the bags oranges come in. The nylon and polypropylene fibers act as a scaffold for condensation, and as the droplets of dew form, they follow the mesh into a basin at the base of the structure"
(04/02/2016)Looking their pre-order volume, Model 3 will be a game changer for Tesla by achieving economy of scale and cut production cost. In just two days, the pre-order volume has reached 180,000 cars, which is almost 40% of Tesla's new annual production capacity. This analysis says: "With an average selling price of $42,000, that equates to around $7.5 billion."
Elon Musk is not a great speaker like Steve Jobs, but I like him way more. He is the one who takes Jobs' podium now.
I have not updated my smartphone for more than two years. Other than terrible battery life, I feel no need to upgrade. Smartphone makers may really bump into the first growth bottleneck of smartphone.
(3/15/2016) Do you like to take selfie photos? If so, do you like to send it to your credit card company? MasterCard will launch a new technology for mobile payment confirmation. If you pay plastic surgery with your cell phone, the credit card company maybe able to tell you whether your $$$ is well spent.
(2/17/2016) Innovation needs understanding and imagination. A successful product (innovation) does not have to be expensive. This is a video shared in today's MBA class: "Design Thinking", brought by our guest speaker David Sanchez from Fidelity.
Below is an interactive exercise of Design Thinking today that I made for my exercise partner -- Meghan. The topic of this exercise is about how movie industry can improve and enrich customer's movie watching experience. Meghan likes to watch movies with her friends and family together, and they love to discuss movie afterwards. So my idea is to improve movie watching experience with fan spirits. The white ball in the diagram is an 007 movie (GoldenEye or Skyfall). The top left is other franchises connected with this movie, the cloud is various social media platforms, which branching out to various fan groups (large or small, real or virtual). The right sides are items or checklist for a successful multi-media multi-platform movie project.
(11/10/2015) Most people (including me) may not know Sony's Betamax cassette still exist, but this news just posts its epitaph. Sony's Betamax was a revolutionary video recording technology that is considered superior in term of video quality than rival VHS technology. Because Sony insisted Betamax to be sold exclusively by Sony, their rival united together and supported another standard -- VHS -- and eventually toppled Betamax's dominance in video cassette market. One amazing part is that, when the rest of the world has let go Betamax long time ago, Japan is still very nostalgia towards Betamax.
Japan is a very unique market in technology. It has its own ecology, regulation and standards. As a result, the technology's catchup in Japan's market often follows a different path. For example, fax machine sales is still 'relatively strong' in Japan compared to most developed countries in the world. Seeing from the perspective market development, Japan is almost like a " Galápagos Archipelago" compared to the rest of the developed countries. The Betamax production is just an example. Those once big Japanese technology companies worked so hard to please their native consumers (Japanese), they totally missed the bigger market outside of Japan. In this aspect the cellular phone market is another example (NYT news). Washington Post has a good report on this aspect. Will Japan lead the next big wave of technology innovation like Internet in the U.S. in the 1990's? I doubt it.
(11/10/2010) This is an amazing news report on the generation gap and technology literacy that impact our society. A car dealer hires high school students to explain potential car buyers on how to operate the technological dashboard now embedded in new vehicles. Can you think of an even more creative way to give teenagers an opportunity to earn extra money and learn business?
"The site, created with 360i, allows parents to up-vote the best areas by tagging their locations as a "treat." The more "treats" a location has, the larger its pumpkin will appear. Kristi Argyilan, senior VP-media, guest engagement and measurement at Target, said the site is about the joy and excitement of Halloween and "allowing guests to engage in [the] holiday in the way that they naturally would. ... They're tweeting, and they're posting on Facebook. [The mobile site] is really about delighting kids and family when they go trick or treating.""
(10/08/2015) From the time the first digital camera launched in the market place, we know it's going to change the whole game. After that, the quality of digital camera has improved a lot, more pixels, stability and anti-shock, low-light shooting, time-lapse, and 4K video etc. The simple point-and-shoot cameras now are almost encroached by smartphones. The newest Apple iPhone 6s and Google's Nexus 6 both have very powerful digital camera functions. Now many digital camera makers have to move up to SLR (single-lens reflex) camera market for survival.
Will these digital camera makers find a short period of peace in the SLR market? I guess not. Three years ago, there was a light field technology developed by Lytro that allows users to refocus after pictures are taken. However, due to clumsy and awkward design and bad marketing, Lytro didn't have any big impact on the market. Though, Lytro now reposition themselves and launches a new Lytro Illum, which at least looks more like a digital camera. I am not sure if Lytro Illum will make a difference.
Personally, I think this new one may shake the SLR camera market (one day?). A new company called "Light" combines 16 cameras into one device, Light L16. Their technology will allow users shoot really high quality digital photos, and it looks very similar to the point-and-shoot digital camera that was our darling years ago but now sits in our drawer. I think this will be a big deal. One catch: it's not launched yet, a new product will be available in 2016 summer.
No WiFi technology in the car, please. I don't even want those technology package or upgrade at all. More technologies in the car, more mechanical problems will send the car to the repair shop.
(1/23/2015) For many travelers, Skymall magazine used to be the stuff people read when they forget to bring some books to read during the flight. For me, Skymall magazine is the source of many crazily customized tool and gadgets and useless one-function-dedicated innovations (like "a Darth Vader toaster or a paper towel holder with USB ports"). However, just after two years that on-board Wi-Fi are available on commercial plane, this magazine says goodbye to flyers and files bankruptcy. It is an end of an era.
For those who will miss the crazy invention on Skymall, this is your last chance to review "top 10 innovations that we never need.' I do think their demo room should become a public museum.
(1/17/2015) Selfie stick is one of the most popular new devices in 2015 CES due to the popularity of mobile devices. There is even a booth selling various type of selfie sticks (see picture below). However, this type of product was invented early in the early 1990's and was voted as one of the most useless product in 1995. If you are old enough, you probably remember Apple's Newton (launched in 1991) handheld device that failed. There were really born in the wrong time (生不逢時), right?
Selfie Stick is popular in 2015 CES show. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/there-are-whole-booths-filled-with-selfie-sticks-at-ces-2015-1
(11/20/2014) Recent years, Amazon had several labor troubles in their fulfillment centers in the US and Germany. In the long run, robots are definitely more attractive for big retailers like Amazon or Walmart. This is a news about Robot Kivas working in the warehouse of Amazon. They are not doing the picking jobs. Instead, they move inventories around on racks to get closer to the pickers such that the pickers can save their time from walking all day long.
As technology progresses, one day maybe the picker's job will be replaced by Kiva too.
(12/1/2014) Amazon just announced that they will release 15,000 Kivas in the warehouses for their pickers. One worker says that their picking productivity is two to three time more than before and it will save 20% of operating cost. Yes, it also says that it will not eliminate current jobs; but, in another words, it means they don't need to hire as many pickers as before.
(10/29/2014) Recently, CVS and Rite Aid announced that they will not support Apple Pay. The reason of not-supporting Apple Pay was revealed by New York Time: several retailers (including Walmart, Best Buy, CVS...) are working on a mobile payment platform CurrentC. Supported by these retailers, CurrentC (based on MCX, Merchant Customer Exchange) can save those supporting retailers 2%~3% of commission, which the retailers pay to credit card companies.
Well, it turns out that CurrentC is not that safe at all. They have sent out email to users that "unauthorized third parties obtained the e-mail addresses of some of you." (Did Apple do that? just kidding.) In Chinese, we have a saying "三個臭皮匠，勝過一個諸葛亮," which means "Two heads are better than one." However, if most retail heads are incompetent in data security, no matter how many head they form an alliance, they will not be competent either.
What platform will you support? I don't think CurrentC will back off anytime soon because 2% saving is too good to let go.
(10/21/2014) One thing inconvenient to cell phone users in the US now is that the cellular phone often works for only one or two wireless service provider. Your Verizon iPhone won't work on AT&T network. This limitation seriously damage the 'portability' of devices when users want to switch to another service provider for various reasons (fee, coverage, service quality...). Now Apple silently wants to remove this limitation and take back the control back to users (and Apple, of course).
Two month ago, if you buy an iPad and want to be always connected, you have to decide which wireless provider (AT&T, Verizon or Sprint...) you have. Now in Apple iPad Air 2 available in the US and UK, you don't have make this decision anymore since it has Apple SIM card embedded.
Apple says "you can choose the plan that works best for you — with no long-term commitments. And when you travel, you may also be able to choose a data plan from a local carrier for the duration of your trip"
Definitely the wireless service provider won't be happy about Apple's move since they will gradually lose grips on their users. It's a victory of Apple and Apple's users.
