Interesting post on the New York Times by Dick Brass who used to be a Vice President at Microsoft. He talks about what he believes is one of the downfalls of the company; that it stifles innovation when instead it should be nurturing it. He describes a number of cases where great ideas were sacrificed for personal ambitions; a symptom of an organisation that is politically motivated. This sort of organisational behaviour can be detrimental in the long run and it’s up to the company in question to solve these problems.
Innovation has driven a large part of our life. Without the advances in technology we take for granted today we wouldn’t have fibre optics, or high speed satellite internet. Heck, we wouldn’t even have a wii or Playstation to play on! Who knows what life would be like today if innovation was stifled everywhere?
Do you use a Smartphone, maybe an iPhone, a Blackberry or an Android phone? If so, you’re the target market for one of the many applications that can use GPS to determine where you are and share the information with your friends. The problem with these applications however, seems to be that they have limited lasting appeal which could be a problem when one looks at their market penetration. So, if you’re thinking about investing in one of these firms; it’s worth waiting to see if someone can develop a way to keep the market engaged. In the meantime, it would be better to put your money in psoriatic arthritis treatment or exotic investments, you may get more joy from there.
This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Coldwell Banker. All opinions are 100% mine.
I’ve just been reading about the 2010 Homebuyer Tax Credits system in the US, which is very different from what I’m used to this side of the pond. It’s quite interesting to see how different taxation systems work and how different incentives are designed by the powers that be. Here’s a video what can help explain what the Tax Credit is all about:
So, here are some highlights of the Tax Credit system:
If you’re buying your first house, or haven’t owned one in the last three years, you can receive up to an $8,000 tax credit.
If you have lived in the same home for 5 of the past 8 years can receive up to a $6,500 tax credit if you decide to buy a new house.
For this extension, income limits are now $125,000 for singles, $225,000 for married couples with a $20,000 phase-out of the credit for both.
It’s interesting to see how the incentive is designed, the main reason being to stimulate the housing market and try and recovered from the current downturn. The thing about downturn is that it’s very much based on people’s perception, so something like this can have a positive effect by making the market start to regenerate. It’s all cyclical and one the ball gets rolling, things will start improving.
A great post on Seth Godin’s blog lists a number of random ideas worth reading. Here are my top 5:
Waiting for inspiration is another way of saying that you’re stalling. You don’t wait for inspiration, you command it to appear.
The hard part is finishing, so enjoy the starting part.
Powerful organizations adore the status quo, so expect no help from them if your idea challenges the very thing they adore.
Seek out apostles, not partners. People who benefit from spreading your idea, not people who need to own it.
Are you a serial idea-starting person? If so, what can you change to end that cycle? The goal is to be an idea-shipping person.
I have a couple of books he published and I like how they inspire great ideas, which are really simple and intuitive. Recommended reading for anyone interested in making their ideas work for them.
It’s been just under three weeks since we wrote to both RyanAir and FlyBe about our cancelled flights and subsequent reimbursement and I’m delighted to say that today we received a letter from FlyBe who have reimbursed us for our alternative travel arrangements. I must say I’m really happy with the way they have responded to us and I will be telling all my friends of their great customer ethic.
When I buy something, I’m not one to go for an extended service plan, but if I have a problem I will write to the company in question to see if they will remediate the problem. In this case, it was a service that we had bought, but it was no different; I did write to both companies we had issues with, and it’s great to get a positive response, at least from one of them.
I’ll keep you posted on what happens on the RyanAir front …
It’s been interesting to watch Apple’s stock price over the last few days and over the last few hours since the iPad has been announced. Yesterday was characteristed by a steady increase in price, probably as the market started to feel the anticipation around the product launch. As the product was being announced the market dipped as it didn’t seem as exciting as everyone thought. However, when the price point was announces; a price point that would certainly make the product was very attractive to consumers; the price rose once again.
Product announcements can make or break a company. You can imagine what would happen if a company announced it had a cure for Mesothelioma cancer, only to be exposed as a fraud a few days after. It would probably be quite hard to recover from something like that. In the meantime, we’ll keep an eye on Apple and see what happens to their stock over the next few days, as the industry starts to get their hands on the initial devices.
Owen has a background grounded in application development and technology consultancy but today focuses on helping organisations make best use of technology, processes and people to provide maximum satisfaction to clients, employees and other stakeholders.
