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	Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Bluetooth Gaining  ( on technology) My friend uses the bluetooth feature of his cell phone to find " connections" in bars, and make friends. Another use it to listen music, while a couple uses it to power their cell phone earpiece. I use it to transfer files between my devices and my wife's. I visited a couple of conference rooms that now use bluetooth for their wireless keyboards and mouse in order to enable the presentor to move about while doing presentations. Many car makers have introduced it as a standard feature. Bluetooth, named after a Danish prince, was introduced 10 years ago. Initially overhyped, it was starting to falter. But this year, according to Business 2.0 magazine Oct 2004, over 1400 products will incorporate blue tooth this year. It is estimated that shipment of Bluetooth semiconductors was 69 million in 2003 and will reach 700 million in 2004. In money terms, that is a market size of $163 million in 2004 to $1.7 billion by the year 2008. After reading that blue lasers will enable the future DVD players to store even more data, it seems blue, my favorite color, will be coming on strong. 1:24:38 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Saturday, October 23, 2004

Offloading your Brain  ( on technology) Reading Michael Slawski's blog  made me post an earlier article on how to stay connected.   His subsequent comment about using a PDA made me think why I find mine so useful that I have two.  But first allow me to spin a story... One of my early favorite books was that of Sherlock Holmes.  At one of the stories, he proceeded to ask Dr. Watson some issues about the solar system.  After that which he said, "now that I know, I will now proceed to consciously forget about it." Dr. Watson asked him why, for which he replied, "We can only remember so many things, and since the information is of no potential use to me, of what value is it should I remember it?" That was written well over a hundred years ago, and since then we have read that our mind is really of almost infinite wonder, but still, the fact remains that we can only remember so many things on the conscious level.  At this time when information is growing at an exponential rate, there is even more reason to be very selective in what we store in our minds. I had a chance to talk to one of my colleague,  and he was complaining that 256 mb of memory in his computer was not enough.  I could not imagine that would not be enough, since when I started in computers, we only had 16k.  Obviously, I noted the habit of not only running over a dozen programs simultaneously, but also keeping over a dozen emails opened.  Even the powerful processors of today would feel the groan of such weight, and so does the human mind.  I give him the comment that if he consciously reads each email, answers and resolves it once and for all, and methodically close them, his computer would run much faster, and not only his computer, but his own mind would be much less cluttered.  In today's world, where information is so vast, and hundreds of things cry for your attention, and we are all expected to multi-task, it really should be our prime goal to speed up our ability to get things done so that the number of open issues remains small, and we would feel uncluttered. Which brings me back the PDA ( or a smart phone)... In my own theory, would I not vastly use my brains better if I use it full force for observation and analysis instead of remembering things?  How much of our mind do we put up remembering to do something later, remembering somebody's birthday or some later appointment, a friends email or telephone number?  Yes, trying to keep all of that in mind detracts your full attention, and like an open folder in a computer, eats up resources and memory, and slows down processing. An article on Oct 2004 issue of Readers Digest entitled the Brain Explained also noted that it not the ability to take all information in ( noting the massive amounts of data the world is feeding your brain), but rather the ability to shut much of it out that's key.  As they say, "If you're always paying attention to everything your senses is picking up, you would be overwhlemed".    Your brain, after all, at least its working memory, can remember only about seven distinct items, and if you try to hold more in your working memory, as in contrast to long term memory, more than 7 items, you will overload it quickly. So there is the PDA.  When somebody talks of an appointment, I write it down.   When I remember something to do, I write it down. When somebody gives me an email address or a phone number, I write it down. When I need to remember a quote or a news fact that I read, I write it down.  When I need to send an email, I write it down immediately.  When there are minutes of the meeting or action plan that needs to be taken care of, I write it down.  When there are memorable events, I take pictures, or have the conversation recorded. So in the course of the day, when I have some random thoughts that for instance for a topic for this blog, I write it down too.  I find this practice of immediately writing it down liberating, and unclutters my mind hopefully to focus at the things at hand rather than remembering many things.  And the PDA can remember it infinitely better than any human mind.  When I look at the topics I have to blog about in my PDA, I would say half of them would have long been forgotten except for those little notes that I took at the moment when I thought about it.  This process of speeding up decision making, and NOT remembering, can vastly help a person to be more productive.  I would like to believe that when Bill Gates wrote about Business at the Speed of Thought, this would be what he would be thinking of.   The tools to resolve an issue the moment you think about it and get on with other things. In today's world, getting organized, and preventing information overload, as well as making optimal use of your "gray cells" remains one of the most exciting challenges.  If you have something to do, get it done immediately, or remember to do it later by letting a PDA or computer remember it for you.  What do you think?      5:22:28 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Thursday, October 21, 2004

The Quest of Being Connected.  ( on technology) In today's world, it is very important to be  "connected". I have 2 PDAs that I constantly logged with me, and I will tell you why I need both.  I wish I had only one, but there is just not that one device yet  that can do all -- at least I am thinking of the pocket pc XDA3, when it comes out.  For now, the first PDA I have is the Sony Ericsson P900 which I use for: a.) cell phone b.) mp3 music player c.) camera and short video recorder d.) Short text messaging and also checking email using GPRS e.) internet surfing using GRPS f.) sound recorder  The second is the Palm Tungsten C.   I would have preferred a Pocket PC only that I really need a keyboard.  I just cannot do it right using a stylus.  So I use this PDA for: a.) address book b.) date book and organizer c.) read news and blogs d.) check email using WiFi e.) internet using WiFi f.) games g.) Photo viewer h.) Book Reader These 2 units I always log on with me, and hopefully means I am often connected and never bored.     7:34:15 PM     comment []   trackback []

	Sunday, October 10, 2004

The Ecademy Business Network   ( on technology) For the last few weeks, I have been a member of Ecademy Network.  This is a website which is used by over 42,000 members to network, and get to know people from all over the world.  It is like Friendster but with a business twist.  I am writing about this on technology, because the site does present some very cool technology tools to make it easier as to how to get to know business people worldwide. You can blog there, you can join clubs, but most of all you can get to know people.  Last October 8, the chairman of Ecademy, Tomas Powers, visited Manila Philippines.  I was fortunate to meet him, and was also selected to deliver the opening remarks.  Since this was for an international audience, I also took the chance to promote Philippine Business.  Click on this link to know more about some of my thoughts on business networks, and also some warm thoughts about doing business in the Philippines.     8:55:57 PM     comment []   trackback []