Americans' circle of close friends shrinking

Although Americans have many more electronic ways to communicate than in the past – our social contact networks have shrunk.

Recent research shows that current Americans have fewer colse friends. One cause may be our dispersed lifestyle. Whereas many people grew up and stayed closer to home 50 – 100 years ago –  it is not uncommon today to go away to school, the move again when you go to work, then get transferred again and again.

Almost 25% of those surveyed said that they have no close friends.

"Nearly a quarter of people surveyed said they had "zero" close friends with whom to discuss personal matters. More than 50 percent named two or fewer confidants, most often immediate family members, the researchers said."

CNN.com – Americans’ circle of close friends shrinking – Jun 23, 2006

I am not sure what all this portends for society, but I don’t think I like it.

How to kill innovation at your company

How to kill innovation. Tyner Blain has a top ten list of how to kill innovation at your company. (Tounge in cheek of course.)

To kill innovation, be sure to hire people looking for maximum safety. And, we also need people that can fill out a mean TPS report. Also, be sure to hire and promote people who take credit for other’s work, and have only one area of expertise.

Be sure to only add features that customers asked for! No reason to waste time experimenting, there is real work to be done! And when these incremental features are added, be sure to give rewards and recognintion based on only incremental successes. And, when raises come around, be sure to apply tight formulas. No one should make 75% above the average salary!

Finally, be sure to build a kingdom where you have access to important information (like customer information), and then tightly control it, to enhance your power. You will be the owner and interpreter of all information. Others will be on a “need to know” basis.

“Companies with track records of innovation have flawed processes.

They fail to screen out likely innovaters in their hiring process.

They mismanage their employees, who end up innovating when they should be towing the line.

They inadvertantly reward innovation instead of mediocrity with recognition and compensation.

They create opportunities to innovate and their employees drive Mack trucks through these loopholes. “

Check out the entire list on his blog.

Top ten tips for preventing innovation -Tyner Blain

LA using drones

LA county will start using drones to fly over LA looking for criminals, and searching for lost hikers.

They have 18 helicopters that they use now. The drones will complement their current air support for law enforcement.

These drones are not exactly like what the military uses overseas. These drones are smaller but still have regular and infared camera capabilites to see at night.

“In the months ahead, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will test an unmanned, remote-controlled surveillance plane.

If deputies want a birds-eye view of a standoff, they might scramble the unmanned drone instead of a helicopter to get a closer, quieter look. Within minutes, real-time color video would be streamed to a portable computer system manned by an officer 250 feet below.”

Wired News: Drones Taking a Bite Out of Crime

Microchip, build thyself

This is a very cool area of microchip research. These chips can configure themselves dynamically. This is the type of chip that looks more and more like a brain.

"A reconfigurable chip developed by ChaoLogix in Gainesville, FL, makes it possible to morph a circuit from one type into another in an instant.

Having the ability to effectively redesign chips an unlimited number of times after they’ve been manufactured could make chips faster and more robust. And, ultimately, it could bring down the cost of producing integrated circuits, by reducing the need to make expensive, custom-built chips.
The novel chips work by exploiting inherent "chaotic" behavior within the integrated circuits, enabling a single, simple circuit to behave like any kind of logic gate. Such a chip could be transformed, for example, from a graphics card into a memory chip and back again — in just two computer clock cycles. "We have blurred the line between software and hardware," says William Ditto, chief technology officer of ChaoLogix, which was spun out of research at the University of Florida."

Technology Review: Emerging Technologies and their Impact

Challenge is in the eye of the beholder: A heavy burden can slant our world

An article published in the recent issue of Perspectives on Psychological Science investigates the impact of fatigue, physical ability, and potential bodily endangerment on how we perceive our environment. The author finds that we have a natural tendency to view hills as steeper when we are tired, less physically able, or carrying a heavy load. Likewise, inclines appear greater and the distance to the ground appears further when there is a perceived risk of injury. The author attributes this perceptual variance to our instinctive need to conserve energy and protect ourselves from harm. “The visually specified layout of the environment is modulated in perception in ways that promote effective, efficient, and safe behavior.”

Participants were asked to estimate the steepness of hills, both from the bottom and at a cross-section, before and after a physically demanding run. The results displayed a trend for participants to estimate the steepness of the hill as greater after completing the run. Similar over-estimation occurred when participants were asked to estimate the steepness of hills when wearing a heavy backpack, or when the participant was elderly or otherwise less physically able. Another experiment placed participants at the top of a hill steep hill, standing on a skateboard. The perceived risk of bodily injury led the participants standing on skateboards to estimate the slope of the hill to be greater than their counterparts on secure ground. The author concludes that “what one sees in the world is influenced not only by optical and ocular-motor information, but also by one’s purposes, physiological state, and emotions.”

From Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Humans Must Colonize Space

Physicist Stephen Hawking says that humans need to start moving off the Earth as soon as possible.

""It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species," Hawking said. "Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of." "

SPACE.com — Hawking Says Humans Must Colonize Space

In order for humans to survive, this is mandatory in the long term. We all live on a planet that is subject to meteor strikes, sun spots/ fluctuations, gamma-ray bursts, and climate changes (heating and cooling). And, we all live here. So, we have put all our eggs in one basket, so to speak.

Amazon.com launches grocery shopping

Amazon.com has expanded its already large number of offerings to include groceries.

“More than 10,000 non-perishable items–and growing every day
All items eligible for free Super Saver Shipping and Amazon Prime
Great everyday prices on your favorite brands
Shipped to your door, just like any other Amazon.com purchase “

Amazon.com Grocery: Snacks, Cookies and Candy, Coffee and Tea, Natural & Organic, Baby Care, Household, Pet Supplies & more Grocery:

Ringtone only kids can hear

An alarm that was originally invented to annoy teens is now being used as a cell phone ring-tone that adults can not hear.

The “mosquito” alarm was invented to send out an annoying high-pitch sound to discourage loitering by teens – but not annoy adults.

“Inventor Howard Stapleton, creator of the Mosquito teen repellent, says only a few people over age 30 can hear the Mosquito’s sound.”

NPR : Teens Turn ‘Repeller’ into Adult-Proof Ringtone

This tone is a high frequency that young ears can hear, but adults, whose ears have degrated for years – can not hear.

But, the tone has started to be used as a ring-tone, so that teens can get calls, and adults can’t tell that the phone rang. The teens call the special ring tone “Teen Buzz”.

“Schoolchildren have recorded the sound, which they named Teen Buzz, and spread it from phone to phone via text messages and Bluetooth technology.
Now they can receive calls and texts during lessons without teachers having the faintest idea what is going on.

A secondary school teacher in Cardiff said: ‘All the kids were laughing about something, but I didn’t know what. They know phones must be turned off during school. They could all hear somebody’s phone ringing but I couldn’t hear a thing. “

Pupils perform ‘alarming’ feat | Metro.co.uk#StartComments

Business Opportunity Trend: Stuff

The stuff business is big business. Americans want stuff moved, stored, and disposed of – at a pace never before seen in history. With the fast moving economy and job markets, people are moving – and their stuff needs to be moved along with them. Storing, moving, disposing…. it is all about stuff. And, we Americans have just too much of it. Americans spend more on just trash bags to throw stuff away than many other countries spend on all their stuff.

In this age of abundance in the US – we have too much stuff to store in our homes. Despite the fact that Americans are buying larger and larger houses – much larger than just 30 years ago – we still can’t fit all our stuff in them. And, this is where the booming business of storing stuff comes in.

PODS (Portable On-Demand Storage) is a company that has benefited from this trend. They came up with a unique/ innovative way to move and store stuff.

Basically, PODS will drop off a storage unit in your yard. You then load it up with stuff – on your own time. Whenever you are ready, they will pick up up and either store it or drop it off at your new house.

Overall, the self-storage business has grown to an $18.8 billion dollar business. (Bigger then the movie business.)

Another business that has benefited from the boom in stuff is 1-800-GOT-JUNK. They have been expanding throughout the country with their business based on picking up and disposing of… junk.

Moving, storing, and disposing of stuff. It it a big business trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. We can’t seem to get enough stuff.

Identifying business talent

Strategy+Business had an interesting article on they types of talent within an organization.

They split people’s talents into four areas.

People often get lumped in with either the organization they work in, or their job title, so using these categorizations may be more useful for identifying the right talent for the right jobs:

The 4 categories:

1) Creators devise and implement an organization’s distinguishing value proposition or business model. These people appear to be upper management, and strategic thinkers who belong in the next-generation of upper management. They add value through thinking about the business, strategies, and larger market influencers.

2) Ambassadors represent the organization’s public face and are responsible for customer experience. This group, I believe represents marketing and public relations.

3) Craft Masters ensure the quality, timeliness, and cost-effectiveness of an organization. This appears to be more execution minded and day-to-day operators of the company.

4) Drivers keep the business running. They are assembly-line operators, back-office agents, and administrative assistants.

“Certain jobs have a greater value impact on an organization; there is a substantial risk to financial performance or reputation if these tasks are not performed well. In some cases, but not all, these jobs merit higher compensation. Other roles carry a significant cost impact, because they require a good bit of training, development, and skill complexity to be performed adequately. These roles almost always command the highest salaries in the organization.”

Rethinking the Value of Talent