In an earlier post, I wrote that the cell phone was a transformative technology. The cell phone, the personal computer, and the Internet are the three most transformative technologies of the last twenty years, as they have altered the fundamental concepts of time and space as it relates to human communication.

The interesting current phenomenon is that the growth rates of cell phone usage in developing countries is now rivaling the growth rates experienced in developed countries during the 1990s.  As I mentioned in the earlier post there are 6 million new subscribers a month in India and 5.25 million a month in China.  Of course in the case of these two countries that does not just mean people moving from land lines to cell phones.  It also means people having phones for the first time. 

It was announced the other day that 1 billion cell phones were sold in 2006, the first time that has ever happened.  Nokia lead the pack with 300 million sold, and also achieved a quarterly milestone of 100 million sold in the last quarter of the year.  Given that there are 6 billion people in the world and a large number of them are either children under 10 or live in extreme poverty these numbers are amazing.  One of the reasons of course is that cell phones have become a commodity.

When Motorola began selling the first cell phone in the U.S, the DynaTac, often referred to as the brick, it cost $4,000, which at that …

Nanotechnology is one of the ‘next big things’ in our future.  People have elevated it to a level of near worship as the way to solve, and in some cases revolutionize a number of areas of human life.  It certainly has that potential, but nanotechnology will take us into uncharted areas and we must be cognizant of both benefits and potential liabilities.  For those of you interested in reading about nanotechnology, this link to wikipedia is a good place to start.

Basically it is an application of existing science and manufacturing taken down to the atomic level with the use of nanoparticles.  Nanoparticles are usually defined as clusters of atoms and molecules, used in an ever increasing range of invisible products and microscopic manufacturing methods, that are measured in nanometers or billionths of a meter. Promoters of nanotechnology predict how it might transform everything from energy production to health care, using microscopic particles to cure diseases in the body without surgery.  Currently however, it is being utilized in more mundane applications such as stain-resistant clothing.

What has concerned me about this new field ever since I first learned of it was what the side effects or unintended consequences of this new technology might be.  The environmental movement taught us about the interrelatedness of all things on our wonderful planet.  We now look at thing from both a global and holistic perspective. It is this perspective that brings pause when thinking about nanotechnology.  What might we inadvertently unleash while searching for miracle …

In my look back at 2006, I wrote that it was during last year that we reached a tipping point regarding global warming and alternative energy.  This is becoming  more clear with each passing week.
During the first week of 2007 it was unseasonably warm across most of the U.S.  The media coverage of this warm spell was consistently presented within the context of global warming.  Practically everyone I spoke to about the warm weather used the phrase global warming.  It is now at the top of mind of tens of millions of Americans such that they take unseasonably warm weather in winter and say it is global warming.  While most people like mild winter weather, there is a palpable sense of alarm many people are feeling.  Someone actually said to me that if this was winter, how hot was summer going to be?
Last week it was announced that a coalition has been formed to establish firm limits on carbon dioxide emissions.  Ten years ago, even five years ago this coalition would be composed completely of various environmental groups.  Now, in 2007 here are some of the names that make up this coalition:  Alcoa, Caterpillar, Duke Energy, DuPont, General Electric, Lehman Brothers and Pacific Gas & Electric.  Of course there is also the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the World Resources Institute.  That is change.  That shows the tipping point has been reached.

The legislative goals of this coalition are to create …

This is the second week in a row of attending an important convention in Las Vegas. Last week was the largest consumer electronic convention, CES.  This week a Television convention that is in its forty-fourth year and which, for the past two decades has been very important and influential, NATPE..  Last week a convention about the screens, this week a convention about delivery methods and the content. 

The way forward can bee seen, at least in the realm of media and its consumption and how our lives have changed, by looking at these two conventions.  My thoughts on the CES show were in this post and this one.  Clearly technology and connectivity is allowing us to consume content and access information in new and transformative ways.

A look at NATPE clearly shows how much the world has changed.  Ten years ago this conference was all about Television.  Programming , scheduling, new TV technology, governmental issues and International deal making were the topics at the conference sessions.  This year there are some sixty different sessions, speeches and panels.  A quick look at the subject matter reveals the huge changes in the industry.  There are some 15 sessions on the subject of mobile, 12 sessions on ‘multi-platforms’ 10 sessions on the Internet or IPTV and 5 on the technology of distribution across the new media landscape.  Simply put, more than two thirds of all sessions were about subjects other than the traditional television business.  Ten years ago ninety-five percent of the sessions …