by the meltingpot: September 2007

Now Reading!

Indeed, what is at work in the recent return of realism is the revenge of geography in the most old-fashioned sense. In the 18th and 19th centuries, before the arrival of political science as an academic specialty, geography was an honored, if not always formalized, discipline in which politics, culture, and economics were often conceived of in reference to the relief map. Thus, in the Victorian and Edwardian eras, mountains and the men who grow out of them were the first order of reality; ideas, however uplifting, were only the second.
And yet, to embrace geography is not to accept it as an implacable force against which humankind is powerless. Rather, it serves to qualify human freedom and choice with a modest acceptance of fate. This is all the more important today, because rather than eliminating the relevance of geography, globalization is reinforcing it. Mass communications and economic integration are weakening many states, exposing a Hobbesian world of small, fractious regions. Within them, local, ethnic, and religious sources of identity are reasserting themselves, and because they are anchored to specific terrains, they are best explained by reference to geography. Like the faults that determine earthquakes, the political future will be defined by conflict and instability with a similar geographic logic. The upheaval spawned by the ongoing economic crisis is increasing the relevance of geography even further, by weakening social orders and other creations of humankind, leaving the natural frontiers of the globe as the only restraint.
So we, too, need to return to the map, and particularly to what I call the “shatter zones” of Eurasia. We need to reclaim those thinkers who knew the landscape best. And we need to update their theories for the revenge of geography in our time.
Here is the link for the whole write up.

Now at 2nd place

My view is that relations between countries in the coming decades are most likely to reflect their cultural commitments, their cultural ties and antagonism with other countries rather than other factors. Quite obviously, power will continue to play a central role in global politics, as it always does. But usually there is something else behind conflicts. In the 18th century in Europe, the issues to a large extent involved questions of monarchy versus the emerging republican movements, first in America and then in France. In the 19th century, it involved states identifying themselves through nationalism. In the 20th century, ideology came to the fore, largely, but not exclusively, as a result of the Russian Revolution. We had fascism, communism and liberal democracy competing with each other. Well, that’s pretty much over. Liberal democracy has come to be accepted, in theory at least, around the world, if not always in practice. So the question really is what will be the central focus of global politics in the coming decades? My argument remains that cultural identities, antagonisms and affiliations will not only play a role, but play a major role in relations between states. The full interview is here.

This is the 3rd

Every citizen in the City of Richardson will be able to access 756 Kbps of internet connectivity for free, from anywhere in the city. They will be able to access the internet from their homes, schools, restaurants and parks using standard wi-fi connections which are now installed on almost every notebook computer. That is almost as fast as many so-called high speed broadband connections that one pays dearly for today, and several times faster than the various hotspots at your local coffee shops. And I should note that the tax-payers of the City of Richardson are not paying one penny for this, and in fact are going to see additional revenues as a benefit. ... At the beginning of this letter, I suggested that this would be one of the fastest worldwide rollouts of a technology ever seen. It was just 20 years ago that the first cellular systems were being built. The rollout for mesh wireless systems is going to make that look slow. There are several reasons I make this assertion. But they all center on the facts that installing mesh systems will be cheaper and easier than any previous system and the economics in both the developed and especially the developing world will be so radically compelling. Throw in the fact the any astute politician will want to be at the front of this parade (They will all want to say, "I was the man who helped bring free internet to everyone!") and the groundwork is laid for rapid deployment. In Richardson and elsewhere, MeshLinx is offering the basic infrastructure for free. This avoids all the time consuming, political budget battles in the cities. When a service is offered for free, much of the mandated competitive process is eliminated. Next is the low cost of installation of the system. As noted above, Richardson is a city of roughly 100,000 people living in 27.4 square miles. It will "only" cost about $2,000,000 today to lay the wireless blanket I mentioned above. It will cost a great deal less in the future, as MeshLinx is building the pods at a pace of 100 a month today. The maximum output of the US pilot assembly line is 500 a month. When the demand exceeds this (and it will in a very short time) discussions have been held to move volume production to China. Of course, the world will need tens of millions of pods. The cost for a pod will be a fraction of today's cost, with that installation number for a city like Richardson soon being half (or less) the cost of today. What does that $1 or 2 million get you? The infrastructure to be an internet connection, telephone, security, entertainment provider and a whole lot more company. As noted, it will get cheaper as the number of pods being made each month rises, thus lowering their costs dramatically. This technology does have scale. The cost of physically putting up a pod is not a large part of the equation, as you simply need to run a power line, attach a few bolts to a mount on the side of a building or light pole and then off to the next point. Think about the 40,000 homes and businesses in Richardson. If and (hopefully) over time when 10% decide to pay $50 a month for 10-20 Mbps high speed internet access you could see a revenue of $2.5 million a year just from internet access. Now add in all the other income possibilities (phone, entertainment, security and don't forget advertising revenue on the free service!). Think about your town or country. What would service like this be worth? If you are a small city that does not have high speed connections available, how many businesses that could bring jobs do not come your way because they need reliable communications for their work and their employees? If you are in a developing country, where internet access is difficult and expensive, it will open whole new vistas. Couple that with the various programs which want to give cheap laptops to kids in poor countries, and you could see significant social progress in a generation. Here is the link.

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Need rest

Today is so humid. It is so really energy sapping.

I also took a nap in the afternoon and I woke up with a splitting headache.

For the last several days the humidity was just unbearable. But we had no rainfall. Yet, so many people was down with flu infections.

I also suspect that my body is primed for a flu infection.

I'm going to bed early--I need all the rest I can manage.

Mobile device, again!

I immensely enjoy reading the review of HTC Advantage by Miller on ZDnet. The review said that the company had advertised the Advantage as the ‘world’s best mobile office’. The reviewer, after using solely the Advantage for 2 weeks, tends to agree. The one thing the company did not advertise was the phone functionality of the device. But the reviewer found out that it happened to be the one of the best mobile phones he had ever used!

Here is the link to the full review.

The only things lacking ( that is, for me) are the screen size (only 5”) and the full OS ( it has only the Windows mobile).

The HTC Shift is supposed to solve the problems. And, it actually does solve the problems. It has 7” screen and it has Vista. For running Vista it has deployed a separate processor and another one for running the Windows Mobile. Why don’t they keep the specs of the Windows Mobile facet just like those of the Advantage? They took two key features, which prove to be the deal breaker for me. They are the 3mp camera and the phone functionality.

What thrills me most is the one feature of the PDA (device running Windows Mobile is a PDA, isn’t it?) which enables user to use their wide screen TV sets as its monitor! The reviewer tested out a 4-in-1 USB device from HTC itself. By using the $25 device the reviewer could actually use his 32” plasma as the PDA’s monitor..

That is a wonderful news. We should surely get hold of the 4-in-1 device from HTC, even if we are a bit disappointed with their Shift!

Saturday, September 01, 2007

Innovative names!

So, what’s Ooma? And, Jajah?

They are both start-up internet phone companies. They are both are said to be hatching paradigm shifting innovations in this sector. They are intent on out-innovating Skype. But what’s certain is that they are both really innovative in naming themselves!

Then, Nokia came out with an iTune like site named OVI, which is door in Finnish. I think it’s a very good name. And, NBC and News Corp came out with a video site, named Hulu. Don’t you feel that Hulu is a little pretentious?

Again, what’s Wyzo?

I’m using Wyzo right now. It is called a ‘media browser’. It’s an internet browser + Torrent client + search engine. It’s a little heavy but I like it. I like the idea downloading Torrent files right from the browser. I even make it the default browser.

To my mind, they are racking their heads pretty hard to come out with a ‘global’name. The trick is to avoid a name which reminds one of a region or a country or even a continent. There is no future if you don’t quickly start out as a global company.

From ‘global’ to the ‘local’! This afternoon I walked to Nongmeibung. So, I crossed the Sanjenthong which bridges the Imphal river. To my surprise, it is swollen. I think it is running nearly touching the danger level. Where does all those water come from? We didn’t have any prolonged rainfall during the last few weeks, at least in Imphal areas. At this rate, if we have moderate rainfall for 4/5 days, the Imphal river will surely overflow and there will be a flash flood.

In sharp contrast, Nambul looks like it is dying!

by the meltingpot

Now Reading!

Now at 2nd place

This is the 3rd