I keep saying the sexy job in the next ten years will be statisticians.
People think I’m joking, but who would’ve guessed that
computer engineers would’ve been the sexy job of the 1990s? The
ability to take data—to be able to understand it, to process it,
to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate
it—that’s going to be a hugely important skill in the next
decades, not only at the professional level but even at the educational
level for elementary school kids, for high school kids, for college
kids. Because now we really do have essentially free and ubiquitous
data. So the complimentary scarce factor is the ability to understand
that data and extract value from it.

Well…maybe there’s hope!

This screen shot was taken at 8 a.m. ET.  No surprise the rest of the country is still sleeping.  What are your impressions?  Just fun stuff or meaningful information?  Could it create impulse purchases?

Hat tip to Freakonomics.

Watch carefully because in every frame there’s something new and advancing in terms of how technology will enable the improvement of productivity for businesses and individuals.

In the keynote video, he actually demonstrates several of the technologies.  Keep your eyes open for the following:

• Digital newspaper
• Coffee cup with embedded thermometer
• “Dual sided” wall for cross-world collaboration
• Automatic translation
• School kids write on wall in own language – auto translation on other side
• Digital wallet
  o   Touch virtual computer to transfer medical records
  o   Flick to find appropriate “card”
• VR helmet
• Plant scanner that recognizes plant species
• Key chain that acts as a PDA
• Medical data entry pads
• Wall displays for project collaboration
• Ability to transfer data from wall display to personal device by taking a “snap shot”
• Dynamic pricing displays at Target
• Auto sorting of shopping list based on location in store
• Location aware “presence”
• “X-ray glasses” type panel that can ID objects inside cabinets
• Sticky sorter affinity diagramming tool on a wall

Which do you feel are most probable?  Which could have the greatest impact on your work?  Fill up the comments.

In Outsmart!, Champy provides many examples of practical results achieved my corporations.  Much of the focus is around business models versus product and service innovation.  He refers to this type of innovation as “reengineering on steriods” and contrasts it with his earlier work.  He mentions that all of the examples in the book make aggressive use information technology.

Many of the companies in the book could not have existed when the earlier books were written because of the changes in technology…Technology today is the great enabler of business and process change…Companies that couldn’t have existed when we wrote the reengineering book, but can exist today because we have a new technology infrastructure that allows us to operate in fundamentally different ways.

According to TK, it’s a quick read full of insight.  Looks like one to add to the reading list.

• There’s no bad time to innovate.
• Frugality drives innovation. One of the only ways to get out of a tight box is to invent your way out.
• You have to be willing to be misunderstood if you’re going to innovate.
• Skills-focused companies focus on what they can do which puts a finite lifetime on a company. A more stable strategy is to start with “what do my customers need?”
• You know that when your harshest critics are among your best customers, you can’t be doing that badly.

He includes examples of innovation at Amazon.com such as the Kindle e-book reader. Which, by the way, is on my wish list. I’d love to review one for you but first I’d need to get one in my own hands. Check it out at Kindle: Amazon’s New Wireless Reading Device.

Leaders should get out ahead of this trend to ensure that information makes organizations more rather than less effective. Information is often power; broadening access and increasing transparency will inevitably influence organizational politics and power structures. Environments that celebrate making choices on a factual basis must beware of analysis paralysis.

The close by suggesting the following books:

• Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne G. Harris, Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2007. (see my entry on wikiBookNotes.org)
• John Riedl and Joseph Konstan with Eric Vrooman, Word of Mouse: The Marketing Power of Collaborative Filtering, New York: Warner Books, 2002.
• Stefan H. Thomke, Experimentation Matters: Unlocking the Potential of New Technologies for Innovation, Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2003.
• David Weinberger, Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder, New York: Times Books, 2007.

I’ve only read the first.  I’m interested in any reviews of the others.

Thanks to Tushar Mehta for bringing this to my attention in the Daily Dose of Excel blog. In his post he referenced an excellent article in the NY Times which includes a realistic review of the laptop. Be sure to read it before buying one. Offer ends November 26, 2007.

Cross posted at Random Thoughts.

• Audio-in jacks in cars – I’ve been asking for this for probably 10 years. It is now a reality.
• Dashboard Tire Pressure Gauge – Done. My wife’s Caliber has it.
• Chip bags with a Zip Lock top – This is such an obvious idea, why are we just starting to see a few of them?
• Fridge door open alert- The Maytag we bought last year has this one!

I’d add to the list an MP3 podcast/audio book player that can book mark and annotate files on the fly (see post on 10/26/07 ). What would you add?

(cross-posted on Random Thoughts)